Scaling up hand washing with soap amongst ethnic minorities of Lao Cai province in Northern Vietnam (2012-2015)
Lao Cai is a mountainous province in Northern Vietnam with a diverse ethnic, socioeconomic and geographical condition. It is one of the poorest provinces in the country, with more than 70% of the population living under the poverty line. Merely 6% of the population in the area is estimated to perform hygienic practices such as hand washing with soap.
Lao Cai province suffers from lack of water sources for domestic use and inadequate sanitation. Hand washing with soap (HWWS) is still limited amongst ethnic minorities due to the lack of soap, clean water and awareness. According to the health statistics the morbidity of diarrheal diseases in the province is high.
The goal of the project is to promote hygiene behavior change and scale up hand washing with soap (HWWS) amongst ethnic minorities in the target area in order to improve the community health. In the beginning the project will be carried out in two communes – Ta Phoi and Hop Thanh – of Lao Cai city. Later the intervention activities will be rolled out in wider area in the province.
The project is planned to be implemented in 3 years in cooperation with local partner CERETAD -Health (Center for Research, Training and Development of Health Human Resources). CERETAD - Health is a local non-governmental organization with plenty of experience of the implementation of the projects and scientific research on the environment health.