A primary focus of our work in Ghana is the WASH 1,000 approach, which promotes four key behaviors related to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) activities during the first 1,000 days. This time period, spanning the mother’s pregnancy to the child’s second birthday, is critical for child growth and development. The four WASH 1,000 behaviors SPRING promotes are:
Today, more people have access to mobile phones than to toilets, according to the WHO. While this may sound unbelievable, it is a daily reality for the 2.4 billion people without adequate sanitation. To highlight this lack, the SPRING project is participating in #WorldToiletDay awareness activities.
SPRING supported upazila health and family planning departments by providing outreach services to communities and helping with intensive community mobilization (including making public service announcements, and providing visual aids, like road side banners) and inviting mothers from the Farmer Nutrition Schools, where SPRING is currently implementing its work.
In August 2013, SPRING and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) formally launched the Nigeria Community and Facility Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Package for its use in uniform training and information sharing throughout Nigeria.
Preventable public health problems in Haiti remain a significant challenge for the country’s development. Haiti has seen limited progress in reducing malnutrition in the past decade.