The availability of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in health care facilities, especially in maternity and primary-care settings where they are often absent, supports core aspects of quality, equity and dignity for all people. This doc...ument describes an approach for conducting a national situational analysis of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) as a basis for improving quality of care. This document describes the process from the initial preparatory stages, including triggers for action, through data collection and analysis to the dissemination of results. Each element of the approach is described and possible limitations and mechanisms to mitigate these are explored.
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The report summarizes the estimates of the burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene for the year 2019 for four health outcomes - diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, soil-transmitted helminthiases, and und...ernutrition - which are included in the reporting of the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.9.2. The report includes estimates at global, regional and country level for 183 WHO Member States.
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World Vision’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) approach actively strives to examine, question, and change harmful social norms and power imbalances as a means of reaching gender equality and social inclusion objectives in a programme area.
This reference guide is designed to help WASH... practitioners implement GESI-transformative WASH programmes by supporting change across all five GESI domains – access, decision-making, participation, systems, and well-being. It provides information on how to design, implement, monitor and evaluate a WASH project or programme to address GESI.
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Fully functioning water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and health care waste management services are a critical aspect of infection prevention and control (IPC) practices, and ensuring patient safety and quality of care. Such services are also essentia...l for creating an environment that supports the dignity and human rights of all care seekers, especially mothers, newborns, children and care providers.
WASH and waste services are also critical for preventing and effectively responding to disease outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in these basic services (Box 1). These gaps threaten the safety of patients and caregivers, and have environmental consequences, especially as a result of large increases in plastic health care waste. In short, WASH is a critical foundation for improving quality across the health system (1).
Many facilities lack plans and budgets for WASH, which has impacts on IPC. This lack of services, and of systems to improve them, compromises the ability to provide safe and quality care, and places health care providers and those seeking care at substantial risk of infection and loss of dignity. Unhygienic health care facilities without drinking water or functional toilets are also a disincentive to seeking care and undermine staff morale – these factors can have a critical impact on controlling infectious disease outbreaks.
Climate change and its impacts on WASH and health services, gender-specific needs, and equity in service provision and management all require rigorous attention, adaptable tools and regular monitoring.
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Azraq refugee camp located in Zarqa governorate was established in April 2014. As of June 2023, the camp continues to hosts 40,600 Syrian refugees, with 61% of the population children, and 25% of all households female-headed (UNHCR, 2023).
The water supply system in Azraq has been operational sin...ce 2017 across the four villages of the camp and consists of 300 tap stands, two boreholes and two storage locations (each with 16 T-95 steel tanks).
Based on data from UNICEF (2022), the community is provided on average 2100 cubic meters of safe, treated water a day, which is distributed across the camp via a gravity flow system. A distribution schedule is in place, with water pumped during two shift times each day in the morning and evening. Monthly data reported through ActivityInfo (2023) shows a range 53.5-76.3 million liters per month provided through the network in 2022 for an average of 57 liters/person/day – well above the locally agreed minimum standard of 35 liters/person/day and the SPHERE standard of 15 liters/person/day.
Latrine and shower facilities in the camp are organized through communal WASH blocks shared typically between three households and connected to water and greywater networks. However, based on an ACF and World Vision assessment (2022), 60% of the surveyed households are using private latrines (50% self-constructed latrines, and 10% constructed by WASH actors), 24% of households used communal latrines as private latrines not shared with other families, and 16% reported the use of communal latrines shared with other families.
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The situation in the Gaza Strip is dire, with syndromic surveillance revealing high rates of infectious diseases. The risk of further spread may be exacerbated by several factors, including overcrowding, inadequate water and sanitation, disruption of routine healthcare services, and a dysfunctional ...health system due to the ongoing conflict.
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Las infecciones relacionadas con la atención sanitaria (IRAS) plantean una seria carga de enfermedad y tienen un efecto económico considerable en los pacientes y en los sistemas sanitarios de todo el mundo. Sin embargo, la ...box">higiene de las manos, la simple tarea de limpiarse las manos en los momentos adecuados y de la forma adecuada, puede salvar vidas.
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Updated September 2021.
Provision of water and sanitation and good hygiene practices play an essential role in protecting human health during all disease outbreaks, including during Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks. This question and answer do...cument provides practical, evidence-based recommendations on minimum requirements and best practices for water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH). It was originally developed in 2014 during the West Africa Ebola Outbreak and has been updated in 2021 to reflect lessons learned and new operational research data. The key recommendations on WASH remain the same.
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This document was prepared by UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa, under the leadership of Christophe Valingot and the review of Joachim Peeters (WASH Specialist) and Arnaud Laillou (Nutrition Specialist), on behalf of the WASH Regional Group and the Nutrition Regional Group.
This ...WASH - Nutrition strategic guidance note for West and Central Africa builds on the precedent WASH-in-NUT strategy elaborated in 2012 and is the regional outcome of a multiyear collaborative work conducted at country level between 2018 and 2022, in Mali, Niger, Nigeria Chad, Burkina Faso. This work is based on a strong multi-partner collaboration, involving national technical directorates of the water and sanitation sector as well as technical directorates of Health and Nutrition, civil society organizations, national and international NGOs as well as United Nations agencies.
This document can serve as a technical and strategic guide for any partner wishing to strengthen the intersectorality of WASH-Nutrition programmes. It presents the regional WASH & Nutrition context, a brief review of the latest scientific evidence, and proposes an integrated WASH-Nutrition programming framework adapted to the regional context of West and Central Africa. Beyond the implementation of programmes, this document also calls for the explicit and concrete inclusion of WASH-Nutrition integration into national policy documents.
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Pratiquez l'hygiene des mains, prévenez la propagation des germes multi-résistants
Ces cinq indications sur l’hygiène des mains sont extraites des directives de l'OMS sur l'hygiène des mains dans les soins de santé pour ajouter de la valeur à toute stratégie d'amélioration... de l'hygiène des mains. Tout simplement, elles définissent des moments clés de l'hygiène des mains, évitent les pièges d’un langage trompeur et de descriptions
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Les infections associées aux soins (IAS) touchent des centaines de millions de patients dans le monde chaque année. Ces infections sont à l’origine de pathologies graves, de prolongements de la durée du séjour en établissement de soins, d’invalidités à long terme, de coûts personnels im...portants pour les patients et leurs familles, de charges financières supplémentaires élevées pour les systèmes de santé, et pire encore, de la perte tragique de la vie.
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L’ hygiène des mains est la mesure la plus efficace pour réduire la propagation des infections dans le cadre de stratégies multimodales, y compris l’accès à des fournitures appropriées. Les présentes ...orientations concernent donc tous les pays et sont recommandées en particulier pour les zones qui n’ont pas d’accès facile à l’hygiène des mains.
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Les menstruations sont une réalité naturelle de la vie qui revient tous les mois pour 1,8 milliard de filles et de femmes en âge de procréer. Or, dans le monde entier, des millions de personnes ayant des menstruations1 se voient refuser le droit de gérer leur cycle menstruel mensuel d’une man...ière saine et digne. Les filles et les femmes handicapées se heurtent à des difficultés encore plus grandes en ce qui a trait à la gestion de leurs règles d’une façon hygiénique et avec dignité
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Respecter les regles d'hygiène est crucial aussi bien pour la santé des patients que vous recevez que pour votre propre sécurité. On oublie souvent que la prévention des maladies infectieuses grace a l'...">hygiène sauve davantage de vie chaque année que tous les rapports de
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These guidelines deal specifically with water, sanitation and hygiene, and are designed to be used in schools in low-cost settings in low- and medium-resource countries to:
• assess prevailing situations and plan for required improvements;
• ...develop and reach essential safety standards as a first goal; and
• support the development and application of national policies.
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