School Water and Sanitation Towards Health and Hygiene (SWASTHH) program. In this article, we are given more details of SWASTHH Programme SWASTHH on Wheels.
About “SWASTHH on Wheels “(Chakraalapai Aarogyam):
The SWASTHH ON WHEELs had been taken up for educating and creating awareness on Jawahar Bala Arogya Raksha (JBAR) and Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) activities.
SWASTHH ON WHEEL: As part of “Jawahar Bala Arogya Raksha” (School Health Program) in A.P., an innovative program was launched, to create awareness on health and hygiene among children and from them to the community (SWASTHH – School Water and Sanitation Towards Health and Hygiene).
SWASTHH on wheels was launched on Nov 2012 to create awareness among students and parents community regarding sanitation, nutrition, WIFS, Health hygiene by involving the Department of Medical and Health Education, ICDS, Panchayat Raj, NGO’s, Local leaders, parents, school health coordinators, ASHAs and Swachchata Doot / RWS.SWASTHH Programme SWASTHH on Wheels.
| Monday | Teeth & Tongue |
| Tuesday | Hair & Head |
| Wednesday | Ear & Eyes |
| Thursday | Nose & Nails |
| Friday | Heart & Hands |
| Saturday | Equipment & Empowerment |
About SWASTHH program:
SWASTHH is an abbreviation of School Water and Sanitation Towards Health and Hygiene program.
SWASTHH Concept:
SWASTHH is far more than a construction program. Its global objectives focus both on education and quality of life. SWASTHH seeks to develop, test and successfully demonstrate replicable models for hygiene education, water supply, and environmental sanitation in rural primary schools and “Anganwadis” for pre-school children.
The SWASTHH program aims to make a visible impact on the health and hygiene of children through improvement in health and hygiene practices of children, their families, and the communities. It also aims to improve the curriculum and teaching while promoting hygiene practices and community ownership of water and sanitation facilities within schools.
It is based on the belief that children are far more receptive to new ideas and are at an age when they can be influenced to cultivate the habits of good personal hygiene. The promotion of personal hygiene and environmental sanitation within schools can help the children to adopt good habits during the formative years of their childhood.
The SWASTHH program works toward several related goals:
- Effective learning Children perform better if surrounded by a clean and hygienic environment.
- Enrolment and retention of girls Lack of private sanitary facilities for girls can discourage parents from sending girls to schools and contribute to the drop-out of girls, especially of adolescents. Growing girls find it difficult to attend schools that have no or few badly maintained facilities. They tend to go home during recess and not return.
- Reduced diseases and worm infestation If sanitation and hygiene facilities are absent or are badly maintained and used, schools and “Anganwadis” become health hazards. Children urinate and defecate behind and around school buildings in whatever vacant space available. This is bad practice, a source of spread of infection, and sends strong negative signals to the children and teachers that this is an accepted norm.
- Environmental cleanliness Proper facilities will prevent pollution of the environment and limit health hazards for the community at large.
- Implementing child rights Children have the right to be as healthy and happy as possible in their given circumstances. Good sanitation and hygiene practices lead to fewer diseases, better health, and better nutrition. Like many children in India fall in the “mildly malnourished” category, any measure to protect them from slipping further is a significant investment in human resource development and happy childhood.
The specific SWASTHH objectives are:
- to make visible the value and impact of school and Anganwadi sanitation as perceived by the community and thereby raise the level of ownership,
- to promote the importance of SSHE at the national, state and district levels,
- to improve hygiene practices among school children, their families, and communities.
The Objective of the SWASTHH ON WHEEL is to create awareness on JBAR and ARSH Activities, in addition to creating awareness, on the following.
- Deworming
- Hand washing
- Menstrual Hygienic
- Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation(WIFS)
- Nutrition/Anemia – Prevention
- Personal Hygienic – THEN HE
- T: Teeth & Tongue
- H: Head & Hair
- E: Ear & Eyes
- N: Nose & Nails
- H: Heart & Hands
- E: Equipment
- Life Skills
- Reproductive Tract Infections
- Child Marriages
- Child Labour
- Using Toilets with Running Water
- Napkin Preparation
- Parental Training
- Aids and Appliances
- Strengthening of Arogya Clubs
- Change agents CHINNARI DOCTORs
- Social access by School Management Committee/Parent Teacher Association
Swasthh on wheels: Innovative
A) THEN HE: This program was to create awareness among the community through the child to child, child to parents and family & Community by educating the children during morning prayer assembly
On Monday: Teeth & Tongue
Tuesday: Hair & Head
Wednesday: Ear & Eyes
Thursday: Nose & Nails
Friday: Heart & Hands
Saturday : Equipment & Empowerment
“THEN” means implementing the above practices to the school children.
“HE” That is the student who will develop as a healthy and prosperous citizen.
Check more details of SWASTHH Programme SWASTHH on Wheels from here