Our Work

Helping Hands Tackles Hygiene

The Dirty Facts

Dirty hands and dirty water spread disease quickly and never more so than when you have hundreds of children living and learning in close proximity to each other… and children who eat with their hands.

• No one in the communities we work in has access to running water.
• Less than half of homes have adequate toilet facilities – many have none.
• Some schools have two latrines for 500 children.
• Many schools have no hand-washing facilities.

The Reality in rural Uganda

Eating and drinking is a dangerous thing as germs spread from faeces which contaminate hands, water sources and food. For young children with poor immune systems the risk becomes higher and especially so when parents do not know how to treat diarrhoea. Often mothers stop giving their child liquids when they become ill and so many young children die of simply dehydration.

The Way Forward

Helping Hands has taken a three-pronged approach to improve hygiene:

• health education for both children and parents
• de-worming of all children twice a year
• latrines and hand-washing facilities installed in school communities

See Video: Teaching Adults in Uganda and Video: Latrine in a Ugandan school.