health
As Mother’s Day approaches,
highlighting the instrumental role that mothers play in raising a healthy family seems apt...
Do you know why kids feel safe when they are with their moms? It is because they know it very well that their mother will protect them from all dangers. And when it comes to germs and bacteria she takes preventive measures to keep all the illnesses at bay.
Mother’s Day is a few days away and as this day approaches, highlighting the instrumental role that mothers play in raising a healthy family seems apt. However, no matter how intensely protective a mother is, without the right knowledge, there’s nothing much she can do. For many mothers across Pakistan, lack of awareness about basic facts can lead to the inability to look after their families. For example, illnesses like diarrhoea and cholera is quite common in young children. Every day, Pakistan loses 110 children to diarrhoeal diseases; even though these diseases are easily preventable.
There are a number of steps that mothers can take within the home to prevent infections. Some of the main home hygiene practices include:
Zooming out from individual households and taking into account all of Pakistan, a significant proportion of these infections could be prevented through integrated programmes involving provision of sanitation, and water, and promotion of hygiene practices in areas where they are lacking or even non-existent. However, as the list of problems clamouring for the government’s attention grows, many continue to be overlooked. Recently, a private organization has initiated a project - ‘Sehatmand Gharanay, Khushaal Pakistan’ (SGKP) that aims to sustainably reduce the incidence of diarrhoea and prevent child deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases. By creating a ‘behaviour change’ model, it focuses on improving hygiene practices while simultaneously empowering women to become agents of social transformation and lead change within their families and communities. Spreading awareness about everyday hygiene practices within the home, SGKP hands the power back to mothers to protect their family’s health. Many of these awareness sessions include simple messages such as washing hand with soap or treating water before drinking which can drastically affect the overall health of the family. SGKP has also inaugurated the first women’s public toilet in a village where the pilot project was conducted giving women an alternative to open defecation (which is a major cause of diseases spreading in the village).
Many mothers in underprivileged households are unaware of the basics of everyday hygiene practices. It’s important to make them realize that spending a little money on any product that can protect them and their families from diseases, will eventually lead to saving a lot of money on doctors’ fees and medicines. Also, for many low income workers and daily wage workers, falling sick themselves or sickness of their children means not being able to go to work and losing out on their meagre livelihood. Most importantly, no mother should have to lose her child to a disease that is easily preventable through simple and low-cost interventions. With a collective and sustained effort that empowers mothers, diseases like diarrhoea can be defeated for good - leading to a more prosperous and healthy Pakistan.