New handwashing facilities boost COVID-19 prevention in Kiribati

Above: Newly installed community handwashing facilities in Betio are improving hygiene for pre-schoolers and the wider community. Image: David Kakiakia, ChildFund Kiribati.

While COVID-19 has not yet reached Kiribati, the Pacific nation’s population is vulnerable. The virus could spread very quickly due to high-density living, a prevalence of chronic disease and limited health system capacity to cope with an outbreak. Water and sanitation infrastructure, including handwashing facilities, also requires improvement to ensure better prevention should a COVID-19 outbreak occur.

Australian Humanitarian Partnership NGOs and their partners are delivering a COVID-19 Pacific and Timor-Leste response across nine countries, including Kiribati. As part of this response, ChildFund Kiribati, with support from Plan International Australia and ChildFund New Zealand, aim to reach more than 12,000 i-Kiribati living in Betio and beyond to help them prepare for a possible COVID-19 outbreak.

To do this, ChildFund Kiribati is raising awareness of COVID-19 in Kiribati communities and is ensuring households have access to hand sanitiser at home and handwashing facilities in the community. 

To date, 17 handwashing stations have been put in place with two more to be installed once local water systems are reconnected. Students from the Kiribati Institute of Technology were commissioned to build and install the stations at maneabas  (community meeting places) across the Betio community.  

Above: Alani is pelasse that her child and the Betio community more broadly have improved access to handwashing facilities. Image: David Kakiakia, ChildFund Kiribati.

Alani is just one of many mothers in her village who accompanies her child to preschool at the local maneaba. Until recently, the maneaba had only one tap for handwashing and a lack of proper drainage meant the ground was often muddy. Through the AHP COVID-19 response, several taps and a basin were installed with appropriate drainage. 

Image: Pre-school teacher, Fatia, explained that children are not only washing their hands, but they are understanding the importance of handwashing in preventing disease. Image: David Kakiakia, ChildFund Kiribati.

‘As parents, we are very grateful for this support. We, including our kids, are using the handwashing stations. Community members are also using them. During the class, teachers demonstrate the proper handwashing technique and are always reminding students to close taps after they are used,’ Alana said

Fatia is a preschool teacher and reported that the handwashing stations not only ensure the children can wash their hands, but they are learning more about handwashing and hygiene.

 ‘The handwashing taps really help the school, especially the children and it teaches children to understand the importance of handwashing. Also, some people in our community use the handwashing taps occasionally,” Fatia said.

A handwashing station was also installed at Te Toa Matoa, an organisation for people with disabilities, ensuring greater accessibility to handwashing facilities for the organisation’s members.