Women delegates gathered in Hanoi on December 19 for a mid-term review of a project on improving community hygiene.

At the meeting, the delegates highlighted environmental sanitation improvement and the joining hands of the Vietnam Women’s Union and authorities at all levels in the work.

They exchanged experiences in improving community hygiene as well as in the implementation of the National Programme on clean water and environmental sanitation for rural areas.

Carried out in the ten provinces of Hoa Binh, Hai Duong, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Dong Thap, Tra Vinh, Tien Giang and Soc Trang, the project hopes to better hygiene conditions for 1.4 million people in rural areas by improving public awareness, calling for hand washing with soap, waste treatment and utilisation of hygienic privies.

To this end, the project has been setting up a locality-based network of social workers for the issue along with providing bonuses for individuals and collectives that perform well in the work.

Nearly 150 training classes opened in nine out of the ten localities to aid the work. To date, 25,000 households in the ten pilot provinces have built hygienic toilets.

Sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Community Hygiene Output-based Aid project (CHOBA) is a joint endeavour between the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU), East Meets West Foundation and the Health Ministry’s Department of Health Environment Management between 2012 and 2015.-VNA