WASH in schools: The media as a change factor

What does WASH stand for? Simply, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

The importance of WASH in the development of children’s health and life sustainability across the globe cannot be looked at with human and policy insensitivity.

WASH initiatives should therefore remain critical to any child development setting either within the domestic or formal settings such as schools, playgrounds, libraries, museums and more. The United Nations recognises this importance.

For instance, according to the WHO/UNICEF JMP report, ‘schools are places where health are nurtured and children develop lifelong healthy habits but not places where children fall sick with infection due to lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The report posits that 546 million schoolchildren around the world lack basic drinking water, 539 million schoolchildren don’t have a basic toilet. Also, over 800 million schoolchildren lack basic facilities with soap and water to wash their hands. Most of these affected schoolchildren are found in the global context of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as over half of school children in Sub-Saharan Africa lack basic drinking water services.

There is a global urgency to address and prioritise WASH services in LDCs’ schools in order to achieve universal WASH coverage by 2030. It is against this global WASH urgency that the media as a force for social change is solicited.

The Media can affect change:

The media since the birth of man has been acting as a mobilization force in society through its ability to draw attention to issues affecting human existence. From a changed perspective, how the media’s editorial weaves emotional connection, social action, and sense of awareness towards issues confronting society is likely to induce the appropriate action and subsequently the needed change in direction.

That is to say, the media as a social change partner can play a critical role in promoting WASH initiatives in society. Unfortunately, the media, sometimes with competing for commercial interests in news making is unable to direct the needed social attention and change effectively as the following study on media coverage of WASH-related news from January to December 2021 in Ghana depicts.

In an analysis of 2,491 WASH-related news reported by 48 media platforms of Print, TV, Online, and Radio, attention allotted to WASH in schools was only 6%, Handwashing 2%, and Drinking Water 23%, and 41% coverage for Sanitation. Content analysis methodology was used for the analysis with intercoder reliability at 85%.

These data projections in relation to WHO/UNICEF JMP report, suggest that there is more to be done by the media considering Ghana in the fragile context of the LDCs. It must, however, be said that UNICEF Ghana in collaboration with the government and other advocacy partners continues to make a tremendous impact in the improvement of WASH services among schoolchildren in Ghana and the communities.

Admittedly, the media is faced with competing editorial content driven by profit intent. However, the media is encouraged to promote WASH services, and especially WASH in schools in their editorial conferences and agenda cuttings.

The intent of this study is not to critique the media, but to draw public and policymakers' attention to the media’s role in the promotion of WASH service initiatives. Also, to urge a strong social partnership between media and UNICEF in the promotion of WASH services. Similarly, UN agencies should employ a consistent scientific media monitoring approach as a way of measuring the extent of the media’s promotion of UN’s policy action and change.

Going forward, the media should be seen as a critical change-maker in WASH services. For instance, a new form of media engagement that recognizes the media as a dichotomy of profit and social change agency is required by policymakers. It is only in these contexts of media’s social dichotomy of profit and advocacy can the media be well appreciated and harnessed as a force for social change and mobilization. For, that is one of the ways we could galvanize progress toward universal coverage of WASH services in schools by 2030.