Sharing hygiene messages in Madagascar in the context of COVID-19
We as the SEED community have been doing everything we can to mobilise our expertise and resources on the ground in Fort Dauphin and Anosy region to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Although certain project work has been temporarily suspended in order to minimise risks to our team and the communities they come into contact with, our rural WASH team has adapted to the new circumstances and has taken this important opportunity to further strengthen hygiene messaging in communities across Anosy.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Communication, SEED have been able to disseminate additional radio broadcasts in the region containing information about handwashing with soap and minimising the spread of disease. These messages are being broadcast in all of the 21 Anosy communes targeted by our rural WASH project partnership with UNICEF Madagascar. With radio being the main form of media used by the isolated rural communities of Anosy, we believe this is an effective and risk-free way to get the correct information out to as many people as possible.
These efforts have been strengthened through the dissemination of Ministry of Public Health posters detailing how the transmission of COVID-19 can be inhibited by correct handwashing techniques and other preventative methods. These posters have been distributed in both Betroka and Amboasary Atsimo, district capitals within Anosy where two of SEED's rural WASH project offices are based, in order to further reinforce the spread of information to more remote corners of the region.
In addition to the UNICEF-funded components of our work combatting the spread of COVID-19, SEED has also put up posters at key sites such as water collection points around Fort Dauphin, where its head office is based, and are sharing a host of Malagasy-language resources online for those with access to Facebook.
As such, SEED has been and is continuing to put all of its efforts into reaching as many people as possible with the facts about preventing the spread of this disease and helping them to practice good hygiene at a time when it is more urgent than ever.