Water is life

The Social Research Centre at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, trained 85 health promoters to teach women and children in the villages of Babil and Kafr Shanawan, Egypt, about households hygiene and water sanitation. Households instructed by health promoters had higher knowledge levels and practiced better behavior in areas of water storage, food preparation, latrine maintenance, and handwashing than those not receiving instruction. Researchers realized further improvement would not be possible without improving the village environment, so they also examined the water sanitation situation in the villages. In Babil, they noted that a standpipe needed to be repaired and a garbage collection system was needed. In Kafr Shanawan, the major problem was a high water table (1 m below the surface), but its other problems matched those of Babil. PVC handpumps were installed in Kafr Shanawan, resulting in increased access to potable water. Villagers wanted to learn how to maintain and repair the pumps. A women's group in Babil learned how to fix the standpipe. Administrative problems forestalled the garbage collection system after 3 months, however. The leading obstacles of improved sanitary conditions were a lack of communication between levels of government as well as between these levels and villages and unmanageable bureaucratic procedures. Villagers systematic doubt about the village of regional government agencies ever responding to villagers request for assistance resulted in apathy. Many villagers believed the government and not the villagers themselves was responsible for village sanitation, thereby becoming a major obstacle to community participation. Nevertheless, the villages did form committees on environmental issues. This health education model lays the groundwork for a partnership between decision makers, administrators, and villagers.