Promoting sanitation and hygiene to rural households in Ethiopia
Updated - Tuesday 02 September 2008
In 2003 Ethiopia's Southern Nations region (SNNPR) bureau of health began a new community health strategy including sanitation and hygiene. The bureau of health focused on a small number of 'broad-based, low-cost and high impact oriented' public health interventions in order to improve the status of basic health across the region. The approach was aimed at reaching households via (employed) health extension workers and (volunteer) community health promoters.
One important element of this approach was the promotion of basic latrine construction and improvement of hygiene practices. The new bureau of health strategy put emphasis on raising awareness of households on sanitation and hygiene and encouraging each household to take responsibility for action. Once households were convinced of the importance of sanitation and hygiene facilities, they were encouraged to construct them from locally available materials. Hardware subsidies were not provided. Households were to start from traditional pit latrines and, subsequently, upgrade their standard as awareness grew and opportunity allowed.
Initially brought to international attention as a success story by a field note of the Water and Sanitation Program, this sanitation and hygiene intiative of the SNNPR government has now been studied by RiPPLE (Research-inspired Policy and Practice Learning), to look at how success was achieved.
