SANITATION PROGRAM

Sanitation Program is in function to improve the sanitation facilities of the people of the country who are living without proper sanitation facilities. It can be mentioned here that about 40 percent population of Bangladesh are still living without sanitary latrines or may be some of them have sanitary latrines but those are not hygienic to use. A large no. of people practises Open Defecation (OD) irrespective of having or not having toilet facilities. The predominant reasons for the OD are lack of awareness, established age-old practice, nonexistence of community latrines and insufficient number of latrines. This sanitary feature looms as a potential threat to the public health of the country.

In the given reality, SJSJ initiated Sanitation Program to address the aforesaid problems by offering soft loan, training and expertise to the people including users, traders, entrepreneur, masons etc. so that accessibility of sanitary latrines can be expanded to the reach of the marginal people. Under the program, the target people are encouraged and facilitated to produce and install Offset Latrines as this type of latrine is considered as safe, easy to maintain, cheap and befitting to all weathers.

The Sanitation Program of SJSJ has been emphasizing on customize Offset Latrine depending upon the financial ability, environment, and availability of raw materials so that the underprivileged people can access them effortlessly. The program is focusing on the beneath aims:

  • Awareness program was conducted to build public recognition of sanitary hygiene through media, messaging and face to face communication tactics.
  • Innovate befitting latrine technologies and solutions for the poor households and train up the sanitary entrepreneurs, traders and field workers to improve their skill.
  • Offer soft loan to the poor and low income people for purchasing sustainable hygienic sanitary latrines.
  • Transform sanitation business into a social business

Mask distribution program to prevent the spread of CORONA virus:

 

(Analysis of over 75,000 confirmed cases in China found no evidence of airborne transmission of COVID-19. Instead the overwhelming evidence suggests that it is transmitted primarily through respiratory droplets and through contact.

Transmission through respiratory droplets differs from airborne transmission in a number of critical ways. While both are capable of transmitting respiratory infections via droplets, it’s the size of the droplets that matters.

With an airborne disease, such as measles, a pathogen can be transmitted through aerosols, “droplet nuclei” that are less than 5 micrometres in size (5 millionths of a metre). These are small enough to stay suspended in the air for several hours and transmit infection through inhalation. This is one reason why measles is so infectious and capable of infecting someone entering a room even hours after someone with measles has left it.

With COVID-19 the virus is spread via much larger respiratory droplets, of between 5-10 micrometres in size. These are too large to remain in the air for long and so instead fall onto nearby surfaces. Anyone close enough can be infected if the droplets land on or around their mouth, nose and eyes, or by touching a surface on which droplets have landed on and then touching their face.

This is why governments are advising people to stay out of reach, at least two metres apart, to avoid droplets landing on them when someone sneezes or coughs, and to wash their hands regularly, to avoid becoming infected through contact with contaminated surfaces.

In light of this, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that individuals caring for others sick with COVID-19 wear masks to protect themselves, as they will need to come closer than two metres with patients and so be within the range of droplets. WHO also recommends that someone infected with COVID-19 wear a mask because it can act as a barrier when they sneeze or cough, reducing the spread of droplets.

Although these are the situations where wearing a mask is most beneficial for reducing the chances of someone infected spreading COVID-19, it may also be useful for other healthy individuals. For example, people may find it difficult to stay consistently at least two metres apart, such as workers who need to take public transport to work or people living in crowded slums or refugee camps. Such individuals may be at lower risk from COVID-19 than people who need to come into close contact with people who are known to be sick with COVID-19 as part of their job, but a mask could still provide valuable protection, especially since there is evidence that asymptomatic individuals can spread the COVID-19 virus. Similarly, it may prevent people from infecting themselves, even if they keep their distance, by unwittingly touching a contaminated surface and then unconsciously touching their face.)

 

Governmental advice on the use of masks during this pandemic varies dramatically, given different circumstances and different assessments of governments of the risks and benefits of healthy people wearing masks if they are not in close contact with known COVID-19 cases. Some governments have gone beyond WHO’s recommendations to make it mandatory to wear a mask in public, giving police the power to issue on-the-spot fines to those who don’t. Nevertheless, individuals must be careful to observe all precautions against the spread of COVID-19 in force in their areas, whether or not that includes wearing a mask when healthy.SJSJ conducted a mask distribution and covid awareness campaign in different areas in Dhaka and Gazipur.

Other Activities :

  • Distributing winter clothes and blankets to the street and rural people.
  • Distributing food to slum areas.
  • Providing books for the under privileged children.
  • Encouraging youth to participate in friendly football and cricket matches to eradicate drugs from society