NGO briefs Bangui suburb residents on diarrhoea

A local NGO in the Central African Republic on Wednesday conducted a door-to-door campaign in the PK13 suburb of the capital, Bangui, to brief residents on diarrhoeal diseases, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported. The NGO, Education pour la santé (Education for Health), conducted the campaign as the capital experienced a dry season that has led to the drying up of many wells. This, in turn, has caused residents to use water from a few fountains that may not be safe for consumption. The radio reported that the NGO had focused its efforts on residents of Yembi 1, Yembi 2 and Yembi 3 in PK13. During the campaign, officials from the NGO explained the causes of diarrhoeal diseases and the means of preventing infection, as well as the importance of food hygiene and consumption of clean drinking water. The officials also demonstrated to the residents how to oral rehydration solutions were prepared using water, salt and sugar. "I did not know that preparing a solution to rehydrate a child was so simple and cheap," Marie Gaza, 40, a mother of four, told IRIN on Thursday. The campaign in PK13 is first by an NGO following violence in the suburb on 17 April when former combatants loyal to the CAR leader, Francois Bozize, set up roadblocks to demand compensation from the government.