Hygiene promotion in emergencies: a fortuitous comparison — the case of Bentiu IDP camps, Unity state, South Sudan

摘要

In this paper, we argue for including a full hygiene promotion intervention as an early part of emergencyresponse. In an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Bentiu, Republic of South Sudan, it hasproven to be a strong complement to the construction of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilitiesand WASH non-food item (NFI) distribution. Comparison between two camps with and without hygienepromotion intervention was made possible by the difficulty in recruiting hygiene promoters in one of thetwo camps. Results show that places where hygiene promotion activities were regularly performedachieved better results in terms of adopting new hygiene practices and better use of the WASH facilitiesand NFI.