Balanced nutrition and hand hygiene for children in South Africa

Globally, ∼5.9 million children under the age of 5 years died in 2015, with the challenges of child mortality and morbidity being common in developing countries. Many of these deaths are preventable and poor nutritional and hygienic practices contribute greatly to these rates. The spread of infectious disease through unhygienic practices, such as inadequate hand hygiene, remains high due to lack of education regarding hygienic infection control practices at home and in the workplace. The aim of this research was to design and implement a participatory health promotion intervention for caregivers at the Rhodes Day Care Centre (RDCC) that highlighted these important public health issues. We conducted a pre-intervention group feedback discussion with caregivers at the RDCC to identify current practices and to establish the current baseline knowledge of the caregivers. Health workshops with caregivers was facilitated by the researcher, and health information leaflets (HILs) were designed for and used during these workshops. Caregivers at RDCC exhibited fair baseline knowledge on the importance of providing nourishing meals to the infants, including the need for exclusive breastfeeding, and the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of disease. This basic knowledge was positively built upon in the two health promotion intervention workshops. This initiative, held at RDCC, was able to catalyse the development of health knowledge that could have a substantial impact on the understanding of health literacy of the caregivers and on the promotion of adequate child health in the community.