Keep cholera away from your household! ✋🏽
To prevent cholera, you must wash your hands with clean water and soap or ash:
- Before cooking or preparing food
- Before eating
- Before breastfeeding or feeding your children
- After changing the baby’s nappies, and dispose your baby’s excreta (poo) in the latrine appies
- After going to the bathroom or latrine
What else should you do:
- Always defecate in the toilet or latrine and never in the open, especially near rivers, wells or fountains.
- Make sure that your latrine is at least 15 meters away from a drinking water source (ideally 20-30 meters).
- If there is no latrine, you should dig a hole and bury the poo (to keep it away from water sources).
- Get vaccinated with the oral cholera vaccine, if available.
- Always keep the environment in your home and neighbourhood clean. Throw your domestic waste in bins or a rubbish pit.
- Always keep water containers clean and covered.
- Wash well food well with clean water before cooking.
- Always drink treated/safe water. This includes brushing your teeth or washing plates and utensils.
- Keep cooked food covered and safe from flies.
But how can you make sure that the water at home is safe to drink?
- Boil water until bubbling. After boiling, store drinking water safely in a clean, tightly sealed container to avoid recontamination.
- Use household water treatment methods following the manufacturer’s instructions.
- If household water treatment methods are not available, add 3 to 5 drops of chlorine (such as 5 – 9 % unscented household bleach) to one litre of water. Wait at least 30 minutes before using.
- Pour water from the container, avoid dipping a cup into the container. If dipping into the water container cannot be avoided use a cup or other utensil with a handle to scoop the water.
