Academy for Educational Development

Students and teachers at the “WASH-friendly” Isorana primary school, located in south-central Madagascar, are eager to show visitors the changes they’ve made since learning about the importance of good water, sanitation, and hygiene practices, better known as WASH, from AED’s Hygiene Improvement Project, or HIP, which is funded by USAID. Using soap when washing your hands is the single most cost-effective health intervention, and can reduce the incidence of diarrheal disease by as much as 44 percent.

One change is the new hand-washing stations with tippy taps, simple devices made by hanging a water-filled plastic bottle with holes in the cap to act as a faucet, and soap are set up around the school yard and used regularly. Students are taught the importance of washing their hands at appropriate times—especially before eating and after using the toilet—and are taking to this practice enthusiastically. 

“The students really enjoy washing their hands and keeping clean” remarks Madame Georgine, the school director. She adds that the school also now uses Sur’Eau, a form of chlorine, to treat water the students drink.

At the beginning of each week, teachers review with all the students the three practices that improve child health and make a school WASH-friendly: Using the school’s washable latrine; drinking water that has been purified; and washing hands properly with soap. The children gladly recite these three principles to visitors, while their teachers explain how these practices are improving attendance.

“Before we had WASH instruction, students were often sick with diarrhea,” says Madame Brigitte, a teacher at Isorana. “Now the students aren’t sick as much and can study regularly.” 

Other teachers agree that absences from school have decreased since the students started washing their hands with soap and drinking clean water regularly.

The goal of HIP is to have students practice the same hygiene they learn at school in their homes, which helps to change the behavior of their families. Experience shows that children enthusiastically promote good hygiene, including proper techniques for washing hands, and can be effective in helping their younger siblings and parents adopt new practices.

With support from AED and its partners, the WASH-friendly program in Madagascar has led to the creation of nearly 300 WASH-friendly schools in four regions. Positive results have been reported in these and other schools and communities.  Some schools report that students will no longer drink water at home unless it has first been boiled or treated, and some families have started treating their drinking water using SODIS, a new solar disinfectant method taught by AED.