Hygiene Behaviour Change through the Community Health Club Approach

Good hygiene and sanitation are critical for improving family health, but most rural communities in Africa have shown little inclination to change their traditional high risk behaviour patterns, resulting in high infant mortality due to preventable diseases. With the Millennium Development Goals seeking to halve the 2.4 billion people without sanitation by the year 2015, there is an urgent need to find cost-effective health promotion strategies that will actively engage rural householders to improve their hygiene practices. This study demonstrates that health promotion can be an effective entry point into holistic and sustainable development. Through regular training in Community Health Clubs, conventional norms and values are altered, resulting in hygiene behaviour change and a demand for sanitation. As a failed state, Zimbabwe provides a test case in the sustainability of the approach, showing how health clubs, with minimal support, have empowered women to take control of their lives enabling survival in the face of hyperinflation, food shortages, and HIV/AIDS. The Community Health Club Approach is now being replicated in many countries in Africa and Asia. www.africaahead.com