Clean water ‐ no diseases

by Aung Kyaw Kyaw, repor0ng officer, Pathien

“Since shortly after Nargis and up to now, we have not had any serious cases of diarrhea or other symptoms related to an unhygienic environment.” Says farmer U Nga Pyawt, 47, from Kyar Kan village in Pathien township.

“We used to use the field or bushes as our toilets, but now everybody has changed behavior and uses the new latrines instead. And we are much healthier.

“Kyar Kan village is far from Pathien town and can only be reached by boat and motorbike. A trip the water, sanitaGon and hygiene team from the Myanmar Red Cross hub office has taken many times.

“During 2009 the team helped us build latrines in almost every household and explained to us, why it is important to use them” says 18‐year old Ma Zin Mar Aung, who is a school teacher.

"The teams also constructed wells for both drinking and washing, so we can get water for our daily household chores with ease," she adds with a smile.

Hand in hand

Providing clean water and good sanitation has been one of the main recovery activities after cyclone Nargis, going hand in hand with hygiene education and promotion.

During the first few months the challenge was to clean village ponds and erect new fences around them, together with the communities. During the dry season more construction work could take place, digging wells and constructing water tanks. As the water in the river gets salty during the dry season, it was necessary to distribute clean drinking water and distribute purification tablets even months a0er the disaster.

More than 300,000 reached

In all communities the Red Cross teams have worked closely with the villagers to clean and construct water sources , and to provide information on the use and maintenance of new structures. Altogether, until January 2010, 35,560 households and 17,000 school children have been reached and now have access to clean water. In addition latrine constructions have enabled more than 27,000 households in the 13 townships to have better sanitation and hygiene.

The heal the education and hygiene promotion has reached more than 300,000 households since the start of the program.

Spring festival

So access to clean water and better sanitation has not only reached small villages like Kyar Kan even bigger cities like Pathien have benefitted. Every spring Pathien hosts a festival, which used to result in numerous cases of diarrhea and other symptoms and diseases. The past few years Red Cross have erected latrines during the festival times, and there have been no cases of diarrhea reported since then.