Handwashing in bus termini in Harare to prevent spread of Cholera

Name of programme: Cholera Mitigation through Handwashing at Bus Termini in Harare

Details of Programme:

Donor: ACF
District: Harare Urban
Suburbs: Bus Termini
Beneficiaries: 110,000
Market place/Church CHCs: 20
Cost of Project: US$32,557
Cost per Beneficiary: US$ 1
Start Date: October 2018
End Date: November 2018

Objective of Programme:

The Cholera outbreak which started once again in Harare in 2018 was due to poor water and sanitation facilities, poor hygiene behaviour and inadequate water management by the City of Harare for residents. Between October and November 2018, Africa AHEAD partnered ACF to lend a helping hand to the City of Harare in the fight against the spread of cholera in Harare.
The epidemic was kept in check and only a few cases were reported in the other provinces of the country compared to what was expected. Africa AHEAD designed a novel programme to promote handwashing at the public WASH facilities in the Harare CBD, using a design of hand-washing facility designed by a recent intern. The project involved hand washing promotion, gen-eral health and hygiene education at 5 busy bus termini that are used by commuting public to and from the cholera epicentre so as to avoid interpersonal transmission of the disease. ACF funded most of the hardware whilst UNICEF chipped in by providing soap for the public facili-ties.

Achievements:

The epidemic was kept in check and only a few cases were reported in the other provinces of the country compared to what was expected. Africa AHEAD designed a novel programme to promote handwashing at the public WASH facilities in the Harare CBD, using a design of hand-washing facility designed by a recent intern. The project involved hand washing promotion, gen-eral health and hygiene education at 5 busy bus termini that are used by commuting public to and from the cholera epicentre so as to avoid interpersonal transmission of the disease. ACF funded most of the hardware whilst UNICEF chipped in by providing soap for the public facili-ties.

Over the 6 weeks period over 110 thousand men, women and children accessed hand washing in Harare through our hand wash stations and over 150 thousand residents were reached with public health promotion messages. Africa AHEAD engaged 12 extra Hygiene Promotion Officers and deployed 5 project vehicles onto the project which was completed in July 2019.

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