N.S.M Muzzammel Huq :
During the recent past, Bangladesh has made commendable success in social development sectors. This success speaks of Bangladesh’s sincere commitments of fulfilling Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is also related to our national long term plans and visions. This success is not an easy task where sixteen crore people live in a land of 1,55,598 square kilometers. This is an indication that Bangladesh can strive hard to become self reliant and eradicate poverty which is the root of all miseries. Besides international commitments, we have our National strategy for poverty reduction. In our journey towards sustainable development, we have reduced child mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, prevented malnutrition and various diseases like malaria and HIV/ AIDS. Keeping consistency with the spirit of Millennium Development Goals, public health issues have been given emphasis. In order to reduce high mortality rate resulting from diarrhea and water-sanitation related multiple other diseases like dysentery, typhoid, cholera and hepatitis, the government realized the importance of a National Hygiene Promotion Strategy as an integral part of water and sanitation sector. So the governemnt formulated this Strategy is 2012. The strategy is a timely step to ensure health and hygiene of the people which is very much related to poverty reduction and other development efforts.
The word ‘Hygiene’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Hygieia’, goddess of health. ‘Hygiene’ is a set of practices that prevent spread of disease causing organisms. Sometimes cleanliness and Hygiene go parallel as cleaning processes remove infections, germs as well as dirt and soil. The history of hygiene practices dates back to the age of Hindu Purana and Roman Civilization which was mainly bathing and sewerage.
From the past century, hygiene practices came to be regarded as synonymous with health later and incorporated into practice in sanitation and water supply. Hygiene promotion includes a process whereby people assess, make considered choices, demand effect, and sustain hygiene and healthy behaviors. This includes personal, domestic and environmental hygiene practices.
The National Hygiene Promotion Strategy is particularly related to water supply and sanitation which directly threaten public health in Bangladesh. The objective of the Strategy is to promote sustainable use of improved water supply and sanitation infrastructures and to create an enabling environment ensuring comprehensive hygiene promotion and practices to reduce water and sanitation related diseases.
The Hygiene Strategy broadly classified the range of hygiene behaviors and social norms that may affect disease transmission into five clusters called ‘behavioral domains’ as follows
Ø Disposal of human faeces i.e. sanitation hygiene.
Ø Selection, use and protection of safe water sources i.e. water hygiene.
Ø Personal (including menstrual) hygiene.
Ø Food preparation and handling i.e. food hygiene.
Ø Domestic and environmental hygiene (e.g. small drainage and household waste management) i.e. environmental hygiene.
Initially the strategy limits its scope to improve hygiene practices relevant to water supply and sanitation. It prioritizes area for prevention of diseases and fecal oral transmission as it is considered most effective in preventing diseases transmission.
Hygiene promotion at national level requires a coordinated efforts through health, education, environment, information, agriculture, fisheries and academic/ research institutions to increase access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. Special attention should be given to the poor, marginalized and vulnerable group of people including women, children, and girls in sustainable manner. Bangladesh is a disaster prone country having experience of recurring floods, river erosion, cyclones and storm surges. During these emergencies, hygiene promotion should be given a planned and systematic approach to enable people to take action to prevent water and excrete related diseases and ensure community participation. The National Hygine Promotion Strategy emphasized on hard to reach areas where socio-economic i.e., poverty levels, educational status, socio-cultural structure, age and sex, geographical situation, and hydro-geological i.e., arsenic, salinity and low water table conditions prevail. So Chittagong Hill Tracts areas, coastal and offshore islands, low water table and Barind areas, wetlands (Haor and Beels), char areas, urban shores and squatters got special attention.
The Strategy also emphasized on behavioral and social change communication, exploration and replication of successful hygiene promotion models, potential use of the social organizations, budget allocation and gender mainstreaming. It also prioritized on capacity building, monitoring and evaluation. A comprehensive action plan has been spelled out with specific areas of action and actors.
Bangladesh suffers from various technical and institutional facilities and constraints in terms of safe drinking water and sanitation. These situations become worse during natural disasters and calamities. As a result many people become disease prone and die from communicable diseases. Therefore improving water quality, hygiene practices and safe excrete disposal-all need to be taken care of for reducing transmission of water-borne diseases. Hygiene promotion is integrally related to water supply and sanitation practices. To acquaint with these practices, bringing the behavior change in the community is very important. In mobilizing public awareness and motivation for hygiene practices the role of media is well recognized.
We expect, the National Hygiene Promotion Strategy a very timely initiative taken by the government, would be able to successfully address the issue and ensure ‘good health’ for the people.
-PID-Feature
