Dubai: A Dubai Cares delegation has conducted final trips to Indonesia and Sierra Leone to conclude its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes.

Dubai Cares CEO Tareq Al Gurg said millions of children globally don’t regularly attend schools as disease linked to poor water and sanitation leave them too weak.

He added: “The tragedy of the situation is that this could be easily prevented by enforcing sound hygiene and sanitation practices. Through our WASH programmes in countries such as Indonesia and Sierra Leone, we are tackling the issue by changing pupils’ attitudes towards hygiene and showcasing how an act as simple as washing hands with soap will ensure better productivity at school.”

In Indonesia, Dubai Cares implemented the WASH-in-School Empowerment (WISE) supported by a Dh20 million grant. It reached 90,000 schoolchildren in the most remote parts of the country.

Over the course of two and a half years, Dubai Cares collaborated with Unicef, CARE and Save the Children, which also contributed to the programme to reach a total of 135,000 children.

Al Gurg said in Indonesia, the Primary Schools Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture, developed the Clean and Healthy schools programme WISE as a model.

“In addition, the local government will continue to invest in replicating components of WASH-in-schools, starting with the hygiene component,” he added.

Dubai Cares also concluded a WASH programme in Sierra Leone, which focused on preventing water-borne diseases through education and building WASH facilities in schools.

Due to the post-conflict environment following the Sierra Leone civil war, only around 55 per cent of children were completing primary school. Poor sanitation facilities and shortage of clean water have been identified as significant obstacles to school attendance, particularly for girls.

The programme in Sierra Leone, in collaboration with Unicef and Plan International, enabled access for 27,500 pupils to child-friendly WASH facilities in schools, promoting sanitation through the School-Led Total Sanitation (SLTS) and Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approaches.

In addition, the programme focused on educating 99,250 pupils, their families and community members on sanitation and hygiene practices through School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE).

The education element received a further impetus through SSHE Teachers Training for 2,520 teachers in more than 1,260 primary schools. The programme also included a community-wide campaign on cholera prevention and control.

Dubai Cares is a UAE-based philanthropic organisation improving children’s access to primary education in developing countries.