Measles Awareness Session Held at Rosemore Crèche in George to Promote Prevention Measures

18 February 2023

A measles awareness session was held recently at Rosemore Crèche in George, where Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) from the Garden Route District Municipality’s Community Services Department educated approximately 50 children and staff members on the importance of preventing the spread of this highly contagious viral infection.

Measles, which can have serious consequences for young children, typically exhibit symptoms 10 to 14 days after exposure. Those infected by it usually has a cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes, sore throat, fever, and a red, blotchy skin rash. The session covered the transmission of measles, prevention measures, and the significance of consistent handwashing.

Measles spreads easily through the air via respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing, as well as through saliva, skin-to-skin contact, touching contaminated surfaces, and from mother to baby during pregnancy, labour, or nursing.

Education was led by Ivy Mamegwa, an EHP from the Wilderness region, one of the eight areas served by the GRDM. The goal of the session was to increase community awareness of measles and to promote personal hygiene practices to prevent its spread.

To prevent the spread of measles, it’s important to ensure proper ventilation and practice proper handwashing. The best defence, however, is to get vaccinated. Pamphlets were provided to the children and staff members to take home and share with others, including their parents, to further increase awareness and promote prevention measures.

Advice from EHP is to practice good hand hygiene. It continues to be one of the main strategies for stopping the transmission of pathogens.

ENDS

Media Release: Health Education Committee invited to witness youth who dance with ‘change in mind’

For Immediate Release
14 October 2022

A small group of youngsters known as the ‘Spiritual Dance Group’ from the Kwanokutula community in Riversdale, Hessequa, last week performed various dance routines choreographed by Rebecca Johnson, Suikerbossie Soup Kitchen. Rebecca invited the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Health Education Committee to witness several of their performances. The theme of their dance routines revolved around illegal dumping, hand washing, looking after your environment and self-love.

The GRDM Health Education Committee, which consists of Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP), was recently established and exists for the following reasons: 

• municipal health education needs of the community are addressed by improving the GRDM municipal health education;
• standardise and streamline GRDM municipal health education materials; and
• increase public awareness pertaining to the nine key performance areas of Municipal Health Services.

EHPs have a statutory obligation to ensure that everyone lives in an environment that is not harmful to his or her health and well-being according to Section 24 of the Constitution of South Africa.

PERFORMANCE BY DANCE GROUP

Upon arrival at the old Kwanokutula sports field, EHPs were met by a group of kids between the ages of five (5) and 15. Parents, in full support of the initiative, were present as they cheered the kids who performed with precision. EHPs also joined the various groups when they danced alongside the kids in support of the initiative.

According to the Chairperson of the Health and Education Committee, Jessica Erasmus: “It is not often you find a passionate young group of children pouring their hearts out in dance and especially a dance to promote a cleaner environment, amongst others. With young children taking a stance like this, we need to show our support for them as young ambassadors for the community. We will continue to support initiatives like these and hope to have more youthful groups cross our paths to fight for a cleaner environment together and to eradicate illegal dumping as a team.”

THE STORY BEHIND REBECCA’S INSPIRATION

When asked how she came up with the idea, Rebecca said: “At the nearby bus stop with a few of my friends, Hannelie Claassen, Claradene Blaauw, Juanita Jafta and Ronica Maans, we saw bullying taking place and then decided to stand by the children to ensure it didn’t happen again. What happened in the past was that whenever a bus arrived, the older kids would push the younger ones to the back. There’s a system in place now that allows the shortest kids to stand in front while the taller kids stand in the back. After we resolved that issue, I thought about some fun, activities for kids to build relations. It’s easy for kids to get involved in the wrong things when they’re bored, which is why I recruited them for spiritual dance classes.”

MORE ABOUT REBECCA AND HER FAMILY

Rebecca has lived in Kwanokutula for 12 years. She used to be a Sunday school teacher and started a soup kitchen about four months ago. She is a mother of a 23-year-old son, 14- and 12-year-old daughters, and a 27-year-old daughter with one child. With her passion for kids, she’s also adopting six and eight-year-olds from a neighbourhood where parents struggle with substance abuse. “I want my house to become a permanent home for them,” said Rebecca.

VOORSTELLE VIR ‘N SKOON OMGEWING

Volgens Raadslid Betsie van Noordwyk van Tuinroete Distriksmunisipaliteit wat woon in die Hessequa-streek, is daar al pogings aangewend om Kwanokutula skoon te maak, maar onwettige storting gaan voort. “Ek het self al vir ure rommel opgetel, maar die volgende dag het dit weer dieselfde gelyk”. Rdl. Van Noordwyk moedig die publiek aan om ten alle tye op ‘n verantwoordelike manier op te tree. “Die impak van onwettige storting kan tot baie ernstige implikasies lei”.

“Onwettige storting lok, onder andere, muise en rotte wat siektes aan mense kan versprei. Siektes sluit in die Hantavirus Pulmonêre Sindroom, Leptospirose, Rat-bytkoors, Salmonellose, Tularemia and Limfositiese Chorio-mengitis,” het Rdl van Noordwyk gesê.

Onwettige storting moet aangemeld word by plaaslike munisipaliteite.

ENDS

Media Release: Environmental Health Practitioners educate communities in celebration of World Environmental Health Day

For immediate release
6 October 2022

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations as a worldwide call-to-action, to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity now and in the future. Environmental Health plays an essential role in the implementation of these SDGs.

As World Environmental Health Day was celebrated on 26 September 2022, Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) from Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) also contributed to this world-wide initiative and rolled out awareness and education campaigns in the Mossel Bay, Klein Karoo and Bitou areas. This year’s theme was “Strengthening Environmental Health Systems for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals”.

Mossel Bay

EHPs from the GRDM Municipal Health office in Mossel Bay, embarked on a campaign to educate the community of Mossel Bay about environmental health issues that could affect their health and overall well-being.

The team informed communities on why and where to report health violations and what individuals can do to minimise risks relating to their health. To demonstrate these risks, a short video clip was played at the D’Almeida and Asla Clinics in the area with the help of Carin Olwagen, a registered Psychological Counsellor at the D’Almeida Clinic.

While the team distributed pamphlets in the area as part of the campaign activities, they also explained the purpose of the Environmental Health function to community members.

In closing, containers were placed at both clinics, to allow the public to insert and report any complaints in relation to health violations. Complainants also have the option to do this anonymously. Over two hundred (200) pamphlets were distributed during the campaign.

Bridgton, Oudtshoorn

The EHPs from the GRDM’s Municipal Health office in Oudtshoorn, collaborated with the Environmental Officer and Cleansing Services section of the Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality to roll out a clean-up and awareness activity regarding illegal waste dumping in Oudtshoorn. The programme was rolled out to ensure clean and hygienic conditions in the community of Old-Bridgton.

The clean-up operation was done by Oudtshoorn Municipality’s Cleansing Services section and the activities involved the collection of illegally dumped waste, sweeping streets in the neighbourhood, as well as the transport and disposal of waste at the Grootkop waste landfill site. A health awareness and education campaign was essential to ensure sustainability during this waste clean-up project. EHPs from the GRDM’s Oudtshoorn office conducted door-to-door education and awareness in the illegal dumping hotspot areas to inform the public of the health risks posed by illegal waste sites in the community.

Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) participants, appointed by the local municipality, are trained by EHPs as peer educators and were utilised to assist them with door-to-door awareness and education activities.

The team further collaborated with different community stakeholders and role-players (e.g. church leaders) and the local municipality to develop appropriate health education material and different methodologies e.g. pamphlets, posters, fridge magnets etc. to conduct health and hygiene awareness and education.

The discussions of the campaign included the following:

• Health risks of illegal dump sites which attract vectors like mice, rats, flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches etc. This in turn, spreads communicable diseases such as encephalitis, dengue fever, leptospirosis etc. Furthermore, toxic releases from illegal dumpsites lead to respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Children sometimes play at the sites and step on broken glass, nails and sharp  objects – in some cases this can be fatal.
• The correct way to manage waste in black bags, rubbish bins or skips for garden waste.
• Where illegal dumping can be reported at the local municipality.
• Waste removal arrangements on public holidays.

Through this initiative 140 households were reached.

An open space that was previously used as a dumping site is now planned to be used by the community as netball and cricket fields.

To measure the success of this initiative, monitoring and evaluation of areas will be done by the GRDM team, to determine the impact of the campaign performed by the EHPs and EPWP workers.

Bitou

Bitou’s EHPs  visited the Kranshoek Primary School to inform learners and educators on what Environmental Health function entails (Scope of Practise).  The team also explained all the nine (9) Municipal Health key performance areas in detail.

In addition, they conducted and presented a hand-wash activity to the learners and explained to them what the proper techniques of washing hands are and the importance of clean hands for ones health. All learners showed their eagerness and enjoyed the activities during the session. The principal extended a word of gratitude to the team and thanked them for their role in educating the communities of the Kranshoek area.

Did you know?

Municipal Health Services is defined in the National Health Act, 2003 include the following Key Performance Areas: Water Quality Monitoring, Food Control, Solid Waste Management, Health Surveillance of Premises, Supervision and Prevention of Contagious Diseases (excluding Immunization), Vector Control, Environmental Pollution Control, the Disposal of Human Remains and the Safe handling of Chemical Substances. (This excludes port health, malaria control and control of hazardous substances. The above-mentioned aspects are mentioned in the Scope of Environmental Health Practitioners).

Environmental Health Practitioners have a statutory obligation to protect the health of the present and the future generations as enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

ENDS

Media Release: Food safety during load shedding

For Immediate Release
30 June 2022

Load shedding occurs often in South Africa. Other countries in the northern parts of Africa and the Middle East, also experience power outages on an average of 23.5 times a month which lasts on average 9.4 hours at a time. South-East Asia is hit with an average of 17 power outages a month, lasting over an hour each time.

These outages have a direct impact on food safety. Three (3) factors are at play here – the length of the outage, its frequency of it and where food is stored.

One key fact to remember is: As long as it is cold, food should be safe.

Food in a refrigerator may be safe as long as:

• Power outages do not last longer than four hours
• the fridge door is closed
• the temperature of the refrigerator was at 4 °C when load shedding started.

Food safety issues including spoiling are especially likely to occur with perishable goods such as fresh meat, poultry, fish, soft cheeses, milk, and leftover food (depending on how long they were stored before load shedding started). The recommended temperature for the fridge to operate at, for food to remain safe to consume, is 4°C. It is therefore a better option to discard perishable food stored in a fridge that operates at a temperature higher than 4°C, especially when load shedding took place for two (2) or more hours.

Different bacteria grow at various temperatures. For every 1°C increase above that minimum growth temperature, the bacteria growth rate will double (depending on the type, living environment and access to nutrients).  It is therefore essential to keep the door closed to ensure that the refrigerator stays as cold as possible during a power outage

If a freezer door is kept closed, frozen food will stay frozen for up to 48 hours. Perishable food must be cooked as soon as possible if they begin to defrost. Refreezing perishable food is dangerous.

Given the price of food, one is hesitant to discard it, but weighed against the risks of consuming unsafe food – it is best to discard it. Some perishables might not necessarily smell or taste much different but may be filled with bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses.

If one knows the load-shedding schedule, one can prepare for it as follows:

• Ensure that the temperature in the refrigerator is 4 °C or as near to it as possible.
• Frozen leftovers, milk, fresh meat and poultry, fish, and other goods should be moved from the fridge to the freezer that you might not need right away.
• Buy fresh food in smaller quantities, prepare it fast, and enjoy it instead of buying it in bulk and storing it in the fridge.
• Take special note of purchasing long-lasting items, such as unopened canned foods and sterile or ultra-heat heated temperature drinks. These have a lengthy shelf-life outside of the fridge, however, once they’re opened, they too need to be chilled.
• Another method used to keep perishable goods as cold as possible for as long as possible is to place ice packs around the items in the fridge.

ENDS