Ensuring quality hygiene, an emergency for children affected by conflict
It is with smile that Soumaria and Assabe went back after collecting water in a standpipe located 500m from their house in Bonaberi district of Douala in Littoral region. “Previously, we had been used old, abandoned bottles to collect water, sometimes they told us to serve ourselves by the end because our containers were not safe and people did not want to mix with us, but now with brand new buckets we are served quickly.” they proudly say under the amused gaze of some members of their families. After been unloading, Assabe quickly goes to get the purifying tablets for disinfection and water purification that his mother jealously keeps in a corner of the house. “Mom always tells us that the water we bring back from the standpipe is not always certain, with these tablets we have received, we have to put some inside the container in the house so that everyone can drink pure water and avoid diseases”. She says. Her mother Amina still remembers four months ago when they were all sick, suffering from diarrhea and couldn’t afford to go to the hospital. Thanks to the good faith of health workers who visited households during a vaccination campaign, she had been take care and they helped them to get medicines. “Since we received buckets and especially these tablets to disinfect water, we can be hungry, but I no longer take the risk for children to drink polluted water”. In addition, with the hygiene equipment we have at home, all children must wash their hands properly,” she recalls while Soumaria and Assabe oversaw purify water and wash the dishes.
Thanks to the good faith of an owner, these two young girls aged 10 and 11 respectively come from two families who find refuge in a building under construction. They are among the tens of thousands of families who, because of the Anglophone crisis and other humanitarian situations, have massively moved to seek refuge in other cities, including those of the Littoral region. In addition to COVID-19, floods and hygiene problems have added another crisis especially for children and women who depend on clean water and sanitation for their good health and survival.
Indeed, the fall of urban water supply and sanitation systems, the deterioration of water and sanitation conditions in rural areas and the lack of money to maintain personal hygiene as well as the purchase of drinking water, all contributed to one of the worst cholera epidemics that affected almost the entire south-west region and spread to major cities in neighboring regions such as Douala in the Littoral.
To respond to this crisis, UNICEF, with the support of the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) has taken measures to enable children from displaced and host communities affected by the conflict to have access to quality hygiene to ensure better health and development. Thus, in partnership with the NGO Environmental Protection and Development Association (EPDA), handwashing equipment with soap were distributed to families to improve hygiene practices. To allow them to collect, store and drink quality water, families have also received buckets, cups, water treatment products and other purifying tablets for disinfection and water purification. The smallest children were also given pots to avoid open defecation and sanitary pads were given to the girls.
All these distributions were preceded by a sensitization on good hygiene and sanitation practices, including COVID-19 and cholera prevention measures, and improvements were immediate in the daily lives of these communities. “Since we have received all these materials, we have no longer suffered from diarrhea”. Assabe said.
The PROJECT funded by ECHO to develop and flourish the best potential of those families affected by the crises has so far seen more than 1,500 households benefit from hygiene and sanitation materials in the North-West, South-West, Littoral and West regions. In the coming days, it is planned to build latrines in schools to further enable children to live in a healthy environment.
