A playful, portable sink to boost handwashing hygiene in Cambodia

[Jonathan Fairfield]

A playful, portable sink to boost handwashing hygiene in Cambodia

Photo: Facebook/WaterSHED

BANGKOK, July 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A small plastic box decorated with smiling frogs and a bright green logo, Labobo looks like a toy, but it could help prevent thousands of people from getting sick with diarrhoea and other diseases.

The portable plastic sink aims to encourage regular handwashing, in particular after using a toilet and before preparing food, which has been proven to prevent the spread of disease.

Labobo has just launched in Cambodia, which ranks lowest in Southeast Asia in terms of access to sanitation.

"Handwashing is an enormous opportunity to improve health because it's such a cheap and effective solution," said Geoff Revell, regional programme manager at WaterSHED, a charity working on improving water and sanitation in Southeast Asia.

With 38 deaths per 1,000 live births, Cambodia has one of the highest under-five mortality rates in the region, according to World Bank data.

Regular handwashing can help prevent nearly half the world's cases of diarrhoea, which kills nearly 800,000 children every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/06/health-cambodia-handwashing-idUSL8N0ZJ15520150706