CW-School of Public Health

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Browsing CW-School of Public Health by Subject "Ventilation"

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    An Assessment of the Impact Of Improved Child Care Campaigns on Child Health. An Environmental Health Perspective Among Pre-School Children In Kasarani Division
    (Joypet Sevices & Printers Ltd., 2004) Keraka, M. N.
    Many children in the wild today continue to suffer the consequences of environmental degradation. Collapsing ecosystems leave them less able to realize their rights and sustain their basic needs, for example, clean food, air and water. Environmental degradation has become widespread in Kindergarten environments due, in part, to lack of change in childcare practices. Many local and international organizers have carried out research on the influence of environmental conditions on child health but still there are increased cases of ill-health among under six year old children as have been revealed by UNICEF (2000). The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of improved childcare campaigns on child health. Both primary and secondary data were utilized Primary data was collected using structured interviews in which 30 school managers were interviewed. Observation method was also used to collect data on the prevailing sanitation and hygiene condition in the schools. The key findings indicated that there were several specific threats of major importance to the children. Fifty per cent of the schools studied lacked safe water for drinking while sixty per cent did to have access to adequate water chance the necessary sanitary conditions were not maintained. Ninety per cent of the schools lacked adequate sanitary latrines. There was unsafe waste disposal and unhygienic childcare behavior and food preparation. The presence of waste dumps created unpleasant smell and hazardous environmental condition to the children. Water-borne and diarrhoea diseases were the most common diseases reported. The study recommends that a healthy learning environment should be given priority through increased environmental health education and community participation in designing and implementing environmental health education programmes. The proprietors of kindergarten schools should be encouraged to resist the number of the children proportional to the size of the class to avoid overcrowding and its environmental related effects.