Singing the message home

Listen to Amina and her friends singing one of their sanitation club's hygiene message songs ( MP3 666Kb)

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

When 5,000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation, the need for hygiene education is a serious issue. But in the Singida District of Tanzania, children are having fun learning about sanitation through songs, games and drama.

Sixteen year old Amina attends Kisaki Primary School in Singida and is a member of the school health club that WaterAid helped to form in partnership with local organisation HAPA.

School health clubs are an ideal way to spread sanitation messages throughout the rest of a community because of the way children can bring the messages home to their families. 

A change in hygiene behaviour can have a huge impact on health. In the developing world 1.8 million children die every year from diarrhoea. The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce these diseases by over 40%.

Amina enjoys taking part in the health club's activities, which are fun and enjoyable. As Amina says:

"I have been in the school hygiene club for four years and have never missed a meeting. I enjoy the meetings so much, especially playing the games, singing the songs and taking part in the drama.

"We sing about how you can avoid getting cholera, bilharzia and diarrhoea. One of our songs goes like this:

"We can prevent diseases like cholera, bilharzia and diarrhoea,
We have to get rid of them completely and wipe them out
We should not walk barefoot by water
We should boil water before drinking it
We should wash our hands after going to the latrine and before eating
Don't wash at the waterpoint
We can get rid of diarrhoea."

Listen to the song ( MP3 666Kb) 

Find out more about WaterAid's work in Tanzania