Frequently Asked Questions

How can basic hygiene best be promoted at home?

Safe water, sanitation and hygiene are basic needs and human rights. Policy makers must give higher priority for water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion.  Hygiene education has to be integrated into the training given to students and their elders.  Behavior modification techniques such as community training, reminder posters, and community advocates can be used to enhance the sanitary conditions and the health of the people.

The availability of soap and fuel for boiling water are essentials for home hygiene.  Germs that cause disease enter the body through the eyes, nose, mouth, or cuts in the skin and through food and water. Diarrhea is a widespread problem because of a lack of safe drinking water and facilities for personal hygiene.  Clean hands, sanitized water, and proper food storage and preparation can significantly reduce disease.

Basic hygiene includes learning to wash the hands with soap and clean water for at least 20 seconds before preparing food, before eating, after using the latrine, after touching animals, after touching any body fluids, when around sick people, or whenever the hands are dirty.

When it is not possible to wash dirty hands, then it is important to learn to avoid touching the eyes, nose, mouth or wounds with the dirty hands.  It is also useful to teach the practice of using the less-dominant hand when touching things that have lots of germs.
 
Surface water and water from pipes, tanks and wells often contains harmful microorganisms. This water should be treated before drinking.  It is important to allow solids in the water to settle, then strain the water through a simple filter made of a double fold of clean cotton cloth into a clean pot, and then boil the pot of water for one minute to three minutes. Bleach can be used to further sanitize filtered water. Water storage containers should be kept clean and are best when they have a narrow mouth, lid, and a spigot to prevent recontamination.

Food safety is a factor for home hygiene and for the increasing population of street food vendors.  Important are clean hands, clean utensils, clean bowls, a clean work area, and clean fresh ingredients.  Again, soap and water and education are key.  Basic training in keeping raw and cooked food separate, cooking food thoroughly, and proper storage of food will improve the health of the people.

What is malaria and what are its symptoms?

Malaria is an infectious disease. It’s caused by a parasite called Plasmodium. This parasite infects the red cells of the blood.
Malaria is transmitted through the bite of a particular kind of mosquito called Anopheles. This is found mainly in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Travelling in the areas where this mosquito lives increases the risk of catching the disease.

• Malaria occurs in attacks which last from 4 to 6 hours;
• The symptoms are: shaking chills, high fever and sweating as well as fatigue, headache, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dry cough, muscle or joint pain, back ache;
• The attacks appear every other day or every third day;
• Some people may also experience: vomiting, diarrhea, coughing and yellowing (jaundice) of the skin and whites of the eyes. 

What can be done to prevent HIV/AIDS and to keep it from spreading?

HIV – the human immunodeficiency virus – is a retrovirus which infects the cells of the human immune system. This means that as the disease progresses the immune system is affected and is no longer able to function properly. As a result it leaves the person susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors.

The HIV – virus – is transmitted through the direct contact with the bodily fluid of a person already infected with it, meaning blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid and breast milk.
The ways in which one can get the disease include anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchanges between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.

General preventive methods:
1. Protection during sexual intercourse either by using male or by using female condoms;
2. Reducing the risk of exposure to contaminated blood by wearing gloves (made of latex), masks, protective eyeware or shields, and gowns or aprons;
3. Thoroughly washing your skin immediately after entering in contact with infected blood or other bodily fluids can reduce the risk of infection;
4. Care must be applied when using or handling sharp objects such as needles, scalpels or glass which are contaminated in order not to injure ourselves;
5. HIV infected mothers should avoid breastfeeding;
6. Attention should be paid to the use of needles in medical facilities as well as between people. These should always be sealed and used only once.

Why do African girls drop out of school at a higher rate than boys? Are they forced to drop out of school?
In the primary grades, there is little statistical difference in the school drop out rate between boys and girls.  At the onset of puberty, the statistics change and the school drop out rate for girls increases and continues to increase with age, noticeably exceeding the school dropout rate for boys.

Poverty is a major factor in the drop out rate for both boys and girls.   Primary school education is free in Kenya.  School uniforms, books, and basic supplies are the responsibility of the student and their family or guardians, an expense some cannot afford.   Secondary school is not free and therefore inaccessible to many children living in poverty.

Children living in poverty are often forced to leave school so that they can help support the family.  Boys may be hired out or assist the family with jobs such as cattle herding or fishing or farm work.  Girls may be hired out as housemaids.  The children are frequently overworked and underpaid, or not paid at all. 

HIV orphans are particularly vulnerable.  Children may be given adult roles and heavy work by their guardians.  Young girls are told to drop out of school so that they can assume responsibility for taking care of their siblings by babysitting, preparing food, and feeding and bathing babies. 

Basic hygiene in the school buildings – latrines, safe water, and hand washing facilities – is often inadequate.  This becomes a significant problem when a girl reaches puberty.  Girls will drop out of school because they are embarrassed to share latrines with boys or because the facilities do not give them adequate privacy and dignity. Some girls do not attend school while menstruating due to a lack of sanitary pads and/or inadequate hygiene facilities.  

Gender equality is a problem in Kenya, as it is in many of earth’s cultures.   Many families do not value education for girls.  Many teachers buy into this stereotype and have low expectations for their girl students.  Girls are subject to a heavy workload and sexual exploitation.  School girls may be pressured for sexual favors by teachers or by the boys in the school. 

This difficult environment leads to poor academic performance, early pregnancies and/or marriages, HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and low-self esteem.  It is no wonder that the school drop out rate is high.