This edition’s story from Zambia talks about the problem of diarrhea and how to treat it with activated charcoal. Our Script of the week explores the same theme.
Diarrhoeal diseases are very common in most developing countries, and the dehydration that sometimes follows is one of the main causes of death in children.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), diarrhoeal diseases are one of the most common causes of visits to clinics and hospitals, especially for children. The mortality rate is very high.
A government program called Sanitized Villages and Schools tried to address this serious situation. It aimed to reach 15,000 villages and 2,600 schools by 2012. The program began after a request was received from a village. Villagers chose their sanitization projects and mobilized their own resources to better benefit from the support of the Ministry of Public Health and an NGO called Humana People to People.
The first stage of the program was about raising awareness of a communities’ right for access to water and sanitation. This was one of the most important elements of the program. It is essential that community members know their rights and understand the link between water, sanitization, hygiene, and water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea.
The program used participatory techniques to help families become aware of sanitary and behavioural problems that threaten their health. Families made a list of hygiene needs. That list was a sort of “Community Action Plan” that served as a starting point and framework for all further activities. Three specific activities must be included in each village’s Community Action Plan: protection of water points, construction of family latrines, and hand-washing. Hygiene represents a significant challenge for these communities.
This radio script illustrates a collective approach to the problem of community hygiene. People living in villages decide to work together to establish hygiene rules in their village and to fight against diarrhoeal diseases.
This script is based on actual interviews. You could use this script as inspiration to research and write a script on a similar topic in your area. Or you might choose to produce this script on your station, using voice actors to represent the speakers. If so, please make sure to tell your audience at the beginning of the program that the voices are those of actors, not the original people involved in the interviews.
A clean village for a healthy life – Farm Radio Scripts [1]: A clean village for a healthy life