‘’People love to go to a health care center with good water and sanitation facilities’’
Nurse Kadie Barbie, 56, is a mother of 5 who lives in Sargor and works as the In-Charge of the Sargor PHU in Yawbeko Chiefdom for the past 5 fives. The PHU was among several other PHUs in Bonthe district that is existing without adequate WASH services. Prior to the project intervention, there was no nearby source of water for use in the PHU. The nurses or relatives of patients had to go to the hand dug well in the township which was over 1000 meters away to get water. There was also no latrine facility in the PHU.
WASAP in partnership with WHH and funds from Charity Water has implemented a rural WASH Self Supply project in Bonthe district to improve access to adequate WASH facilities and improve the adoption of nutrition and hygiene and sanitation behaviors in communities, schools and health facilities. This included the construction of household wells using EMAS technologies in 13 communities, the construction/upgrading of WASH facilities in seven health centers using GoSL/MoHS WASH in Health facilities standards, the construction/upgrading of WASH facilities in 5 schools and the promotion of sanitation, hygiene practices and nutrition in 15 communities through sanitation marketing, LANN+ approach and Village, Savings and Loan Associations.
Sargor PHU is one of the health centers which benefitted from the project. The facility benefited a new hand dug well with Indian Mark 2 pump, a solar powered submersible pump, an elevated water storage tank (5000 litres) and with connections to one tap stand and wash hand basins in the labour room and the two newly constructed latrines. The PHU which has a catchment population of 2,913 is now with functional water and sanitation system accessible to both staff and patients. Nurse Kadie claimed there has been a gradual increase in the number of people accessing the health facility recently and that both patients and their relatives are also very much happy and satisfied with the new developments in the PHU
‘’I want to express sincere thanks and gratefulness to Charity Water, WHH and WaSAP for salvaging the water and sanitation situation in this facility. We use to defecate on a bucket and dispose off in the nearby bushes. This created odour nuisances in the PHU. The community later dug a local pit and use thatch as a superstructure but it was without a roof. We started using it but when it rains, we will still defecate on the bucket and dispose off in the pit. We also used to request family members to bring with them water whenever they bring their relatives for delivery. The WASH situation was so terrible that some women will prefer delivering at home instead of coming the PHU. We lost one woman not too long ago to bleeding when delivering at home’’ explained Nurse Kadie. ‘’So we are very much happy with this new development’’
