296 Where There Is No Doctor 2011
Cleanliness
Children are more likely to be healthy if their village, their homes, and they
themselves are kept clean. Follow the Guidelines of Cleanliness explained in
Chapter 12. Teach children to follow them—and to understand their importance. Here
the most important guidelines are repeated:
• Bathe children and change their clothes often.
• Teach children always to wash their hands when they get up in the morning, after
they have a bowel movement, and before they eat or handle food.
• Make latrines or ‘outhouses’—and teach children to use them.
• Where hookworm exists, do not let children go barefoot; use sandals or shoes.
• Teach children to brush their teeth; and do not give them a lot of candies, sweets,
or carbonated drinks.
• Cut fingernails very short.
• Do not let children who are sick or have sores, scabies, lice, or ringworm sleep
with other children or use the same clothing or towels.
• Treat children quickly for scabies, ringworm, intestinal worms, and other
infections that spread easily from child to child.
• Do not let children put dirty things in their mouths or let dogs or cats lick their
faces.
• Keep pigs, dogs, and chickens out of the house.
• Use only pure, boiled, or filtered water for drinking. This is especially important
for babies.
• Do not feed babies from ‘baby bottles’, because these are hard to keep clean
and can cause illness. Feed babies with a cup and spoon.
Vaccinations
Vaccinations protect children against many
of the most dangerous diseases of childhood—
whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, polio,
measles, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and rotavirus.
DO THIS
polio vaccine
Children should be given the different
vaccinations at different ages, as shown on
page 147. Polio vaccines should be first given if
possible at birth, but no later than
2 months of age, because the risk of developing
infantile paralysis (polio) is highest in babies
under 1 year old.
AND
PREVENT
THIS
Tetanus of the newborn can be prevented by vaccinating mothers against tetanus
during pregnancy (see p. 250).
Be sure your children get all the vaccinations they need.