Latex Gloves Demonstrate Basic Health Principle

Through the use of a latex glove and some papier mache, an Ethiopian public health educator gets the attention of a gathering of villagers. Instructor Mathios is holding a homemade doll that has a latex glove hidden inside as its abdomen. Water feeds into the doll's mouth via an iv tube, gently swelling the latex glove which gives the doll the appearance of being well nourished.

Mathios begins to tell the tale of a family of five children living in a typical nearby village, a place where citizens use the streets and alleys as their toilets. As his story unfolds, water begins to spring from leaks in the doll's latex glove tummy. The doll starts to shrink as the villagers are told that several of the story's children have contracted life threatening diarrhea as a result of feces contaminating their water and their food. The doll suddenly goes completely limp in Mathios' hands, fluid depleted and all life gone, as he tells his audience that two of the family's children have died of severe dehydration.

This is a credible story for Mathios' audience. They have witnessed it in real life too many times. Their village, like the one in the story, has streets contaminated with human waste. For some in this room today, the moral is evident and something they may be able to act upon. Educating people about public sanitation can lead to a marked drop in child mortality rates and a community's overall prosperity. So how does a program like Mathios' make inroads and measure its success?

Mathios takes visitors on a tour of the town to demonstrate how his program is getting the "latrine message" across to his audience. "We have a model latrine here that is made from locally available resources. Using that, we teach them" What looks to be a little tukul (a thatched hut) is the famous model latrine right in front of the shop where people buy sugar, flour and other materials.

"Everybody come here, and when they come, we teach." There are some hired guards or maintenance people who encourage its use and keep the surroundings tidy. Public health instructors regularly teach visitors how to build and maintain simple pit latrines near their own homes, latrines no more complicated than properly dug holes with stone covers.

As we continue our walking tour of the village, Mathios stops us and points up to a ridge a few yards away. We see a little child concentrating on dragging a flat stone lid back over the latrine his mother has dug for him. Apparently the message of the latex glove doll has successfully struck a chord with this family.

Jen Long is currently Director of Web Content for an online store that specialzes in great discounts for Synthetic Gloves, where she runs a web library to educate those struggling with gloves. All are encouraged to visit Latex Gloves Library.