Beit Bridge Town Council has unrolled a massive community participatory health and hygiene education programme under its ongoing US$2,65 million World Bank-funded emergency water supply and sanitation project for the border town.

Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting last Friday, the council’s environmental health officer, Mr Pio Muchena, said the World Bank had set aside US$30 000 for the programme, which is mainly aimed at educating residents and travellers on health and hygiene issues affecting the border town.

Muchena said the objective of programme was to avert another cholera outbreak. “We have launched a programme on participatory health and hygiene education, which is in line with the solid-waste-management component under the World Bank-funded water and sanitation project.

“We realised that the community played a big role in matters of hygiene, hence we have decided to rope them in through educational programmes. We want residents to be involved in the monitoring and management of solid waste, hence we intend to conduct training programmes for the local community,” he said.

The World Bank project, which was launched last March, is mainly aimed at rehabilitating the existing water and sewerage infrastructure in the border town. It is being funded by the World Bank through the government of Zimbabwe and the State and Peace Building Trust Fund.

Muchena said they had so far selected 120 health and hygiene promoters who were expected to participate in a workshop on health and hygiene. The training programme will start on 8 November.

“We will also distribute health material such as fliers and pamphlets around the town as well as the border post, targeting travellers,” he said. He added that the local authority had since put nine garbage collection centres at various strategic points to address the issue of solid-waste disposal. He  expressed concern, however, over the vandalism of some of the garbage collection points and urged the local community to monitor and safeguard the facilities. Under the programme, each household will have a refuse collection bin.

The councillor for ward six, Mr Langton Ndou, expressed concern over the poor hygienic standards at Hlalani Kuhle suburb, where open defecation is rampant. He also called on residents to complement the council's efforts in its ongoing hygiene and health programme to avoid the recurrence of cholera.

The chairperson of the Beit Bridge Residents Association, Mr Lawrence Tshili, said residents were sitting on a health time bomb. He urged the local authority to address the issue of sewerage and water reticulation urgently . Hlalani Kuhle residents rely on bush toilets and public boreholes situated at various strategic points for water.

“People staying in areas such as Hlalani Kuhle are at high risk of contracting cholera and other waterborne diseases. We therefore urge the council to give those areas first priority when it comes to servicing them under its sewerage and water reticulation programme,” he said.

Stakeholders urged the local authority to consider constructing public toilets and communal septic tanks as well as drill more boreholes in areas without water and sewerage connections.