The importance of personal, domestic and environmental hygiene is apparent in its positive impact on physical and cognitive development, yet there are hundreds and thousands of individuals, especially children, without proper knowledge and resources to practice proper hygiene across the globe. The children of Usman Joyo village in Qamber Shahdadkot, Pakistan were no different before Sindh Community Mobilization Program’s (CMP’s) interventions regarding health, nutrition and hygiene.
Government Girls Primary School (GGPS) in Usman Joyo is one of the non-construction (neighboring) schools of Qamber Shahdadkot. According to the knowledge attitude practice (KAP) baseline survey conducted by CMP, there was a significant percentage of children and parents there who were neither aware of personal hygiene practices nor did they include personal care products in their routine grocery list.
To tackle these issues, CMP engaged community members, restructured the School Health and Nutrition Committee (SHNC) and provided them training on topics, such as: nutrition, health, preventive primary healthcare, and personal, domestic and environmental hygiene. In addition to the SHNC training, CMP received gifts in kind (GIK) from Lutheran World Relief and distributed those personal hygiene and learning kits to children grades 1-3 and 4-5.
Ms. Zulekhan, Head Teacher at GGPS, Usman Joyo shared that, “before CMP’s hygiene sessions and distribution of these kits, children used to come very untidy, but now I see not only well-groomed children but also an inclining trend of enrollment due to such healthy behaviors”.
Ms. Irshad, a student at GGPS, Usman Joyo, shared her experience with learning hygiene essentials.
“Due to lack of hygiene awareness and limited financial resources, my parents never paid any attention to our personal hygiene and cleanliness, but I am happy that now my parents attended the hygiene awareness session and I received this useful gift through CMP, which will enable me to practice healthy habits of personal care,” Ms. Irshad said. She further shared that, “since my father is a farmer, we used to think that spending on personal care products is a luxury, but we never realized that we spend even more on medicine after falling sick due to an unhygienic environment. This was a change of perspective which CMP inculcated among our family. Now our family not only practices hand washing with soap after critical times, but supplies like soap, tooth paste and brush are part of our grocery list.” She thanked CMP and Lutheran World Relief for providing the GIK
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CMP is a USAID-funded program that supports the Government of Sindh’s education reform and USAID’s Sindh Basic Education Program. CMP improves school resources and encourages community support for educational reform in Sindh province while identifying and addressing primary barriers to access, particularly for female students.
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