Imagine you’re going to the grocery store with $5 in your pocket.
At home, your spouse and children are waiting for dinner. The pantry is empty. But yesterday, you also ran out of soap and toothpaste.
Five dollars isn’t enough to buy everything you need, so you’ll have to choose — food or hygiene?
For most of us, the answer is obvious: food always comes first. But what happens when, after weeks or months of every penny going toward survival, there’s still no soap in the house?
What is Hygiene Poverty?
Millions of people worldwide struggle to afford hygiene items
When we think about poverty, the first thing we imagine is usually food insecurity. We picture empty plates and starving children. But food insecurity isn’t the only crisis affecting impoverished communities around the world.
Hygiene poverty happens when people can’t afford basic essentials like soap, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, and other supplies. When people can’t even afford food for their families, hygiene becomes a luxury — and the consequences go well beyond cleanliness and comfort.
Without access to hygiene supplies, adults often struggle to find a well-paying job. Children are more likely to get sick, which keeps them out of school. Personal dignity suffers, preventable illnesses spread easily throughout vulnerable communities, and ultimately, families can become even more trapped in the cycle of poverty.
No one should ever have to choose between feeding their family and maintaining hygienic practices that protect their health. But for millions of people around the world — especially in Africa — that choice is a daily reality.
Hygiene Poverty and Infectious Disease
Without hygiene items, people are at greater risk of serious illnesses
Let’s go back to our original scenario and say that, instead of buying hygiene supplies, you prioritized food for your family. But your $5 barely covered it, and for the next several months, putting food on the table is a constant struggle. Not knowing what else to do, you continue to make the same choice.
But now, there’s a dangerous outbreak in your community. The first directive that comes from health officials is almost always the same: wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water.
The problem is, you don’t have any soap or hand sanitizer. In fact, you haven’t had it for months. Suddenly, seemingly simple recommendations become impossible to follow … and the outbreak becomes even more difficult to contain. Without proper protection, preventable illnesses can easily become deadly.
While this is an imaginary scenario, it’s not too far off from what many people in Central Africa are going through right now — recent reports about the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa are a sobering reminder of how quickly a preventable disease can impact vulnerable communities.
An Ebola outbreak is ravaging areas of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Over 500 confirmed cases of the Ebola virus have been reported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the current outbreak, and over 90 people have died.
The most impacted communities are remote and impoverished, with many families unable to afford or access essentials and quality medical care.
Hygiene poverty didn’t cause the outbreak in Central Africa, and a bar of soap cannot cure the Ebola virus. But access to hygiene supplies could help prevent Ebola or another disease from ravaging a vulnerable community by promoting health, dignity, and holistic well-being.
How You Can Help
You can transform lives by providing Critical Care Kits to people in need!
Hygiene poverty is a significant challenge impacting countless people in Africa … but you can make a difference. Right now, you can provide practical, life-changing relief to people in Africa suffering from hygiene poverty by sending Critical Care Kits.
When you give just $35, you’ll cover the cost to assemble and ship one Critical Care Kit filled with items like soap, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, and more. Your gift will help someone maintain their health, restore a sense of personal dignity, and serve as a reminder that they have not been forgotten.
Most importantly, it will be a tangible, powerful reminder of Christ’s love.