Design, development and transfer of a sanitation hand-washing dispenser to rural areas in South Africa

Abstract

Water-related diseases kill millions of people each year, undermining development efforts. Approximately 60% of all infant mortality is linked to infections and parasitic diseases, many of which are water-related diseases. Diarrhoeal disease was ranked fifth in the list of causes of premature mortality in South Africa in 2000 and is also a major cause of death among children under the age of five. All sanitation programmes and interventions in South Africa focus some attention on hand- washing practices and behaviours. Health and hygiene interventions are implemented from the knowledge that hand washing can act as a barrier to several of the transmission routes of diarrhoeal pathogens. One of the key findings of research undertaken in South Africa by the WASH programme was that the reason that many rural people do not wash their hands after going to the toilet, is because they do not have easy access to water after going to the toilet or access to hand-washing supplies