“To promote healthy and hygienic habits in students, Ali Model English School which caters to the educational needs of underprivileged children of Korangi area, organized an information session for its students in collaboration with the Institute of Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan (IDSP) on Saturday, December 14, 2013.
Dr. Shehla Baqi, Director at IIDP was the main speaker at the event who highlighted the importance of hand-washing in everyday routine. In addition she spoke about the common diseases in children which prevail mainly due to infectious germs. The event was planned as an interactive session where kids were shown practical ways of how to wash their hands, brush their teeth and cover their mouths while coughing / sneezing, followed by a question and answer session. To develop an interest for hygiene within children, a booklet about healthy practices was distributed among all the students by the representatives of IIDP.
“Unfortunately we live in a society where the government has failed to protect our children from infectious germs. Hence the most we can do now is to create awareness and teach our children to be responsible for their own hygiene by ensuring that the water they are given is boiled first, vaccinations given to them are from a new syringe every time and they stay immunized against diseases such as Hepatitis, Polio etc”, said Dr Shehla. She further elaborated that hand washing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent flu, typhoid, conjectivitus and other diarrhoeal diseases.
Since most of these children come from neighboring communities where hygiene is not the top priority of the residents, the school management feels that such awareness sessions can go a long way in developing healthy habits in children who have no other means to learn these basic etiquette.”
