Purpose of this document: to present eight practical steps that Member States can take at the national and sub-national level to improve WASH in health care facilities
Water, sanitation and hygiene education in schools – WASH in Schools – provides safe drinking water
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, improves sanitation facilities and promotes lifelong health. WASH in Schools enhances the well-being of children and their families, and paves the way for new generations of healthy children.
from Schools offers a snapshot of WASH in Schools experiences across the globe. These stories have been gathered through a retrospective search of UNICEF’s global and country office websites. They represent a myriad of activities undertaken by UNICEF and partners in 2010 and 2011.
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The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report – Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000 - 2020 – presents estimates on
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household access to safely managed drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services over the past five years, and assesses progress toward achieving the sixth sustainable development goal (SDG) to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030’.
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Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2019 Jun; 222(5): 765–777. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.05.004;
To develop updated estimates in response to new exposure and exposure-response data of the
burden of diarrhoea, respiratory infections, malnutrition, schisto
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somiasis, malaria, soil-transmitted helminth
infections and trachoma from exposure to inadequate drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene behaviours
(WASH) with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
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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 f
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our health outcomes - diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, soil-transmitted helminthiases, and undernutrition - 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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USAID/Afghanistan’s $443 million investment in the Afghan Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation (SWSS) activity is one of the Agency’s larges
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t single investments in sustainable rural water supply delivery. The project installed about 2,123 wells with hand pumps across Afghanistan from 2009–2012. This report presents findings from a retrospective evaluation of a random selection of wells with hand pumps installed under the SWSS project.
This evaluation’s key purpose is to identify factors that support and hinder sustainable water service delivery in different contexts.
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Special Focus on COVID-19
The report provides updated estimates for drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools including progress from 2015
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to 2019. It highlights the rapid improvement needed to ensure students have access to handwashing facilities with soap and water during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to meet associated SDG targets by 2030.
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The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Improvement Training Package is intended to support the training of local outreach workers
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and their subsequent work in communities to promote improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices to reduce diarrhea
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Cholera is a transmissible diarrhoeal infection caused by Vibrio cholerae. Endemic and/or epidemic in over 40 countries (mainly in Africa and Asia), cholera continues to be a major global public hea
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lth issue.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the number of cases reported worldwide represents in reality only 5 to 10% of actual cases.
This guide is intended for medical and non-medical staff responding to a cholera outbreak. It attempts to provide concrete answers to the questions and problems faced by staff, based on the recommendations of reference organisations, such as WHO and UNICEF, as well as Médecins Sans Frontières’ experience in the field.
It is divided into 8 chapters. Chapter 1, Cholera overview, outlines the epidemiological and clinical features of cholera. Chapter 2, Outbreak investigation, explains the method and stages of a field investigation, from the alert to implementation of initial activities. Chapter 3, Cholera control measures, details measures and tools to prevent and/or control cholera transmission and mortality in populations affected, or at risk of being affected, by an epidemic (curative care, prevention means and health promotion activities). Chapter 4, Strategies for epidemic response, addresses the roll-out strategies of the measures described in Chapter 3 which depend on context (e.g. urban, rural, endemic, non-endemic setting, etc.), resources and particular constraints. Chapter 5, Cholera case management, details the different stages of cholera treatment, from diagnosis through to cure.
Chapter 6, Setting up cholera treatment facilities, focuses on the installation of treatment facilities that vary in size and complexity according to operational requirements (treatment centres and units and oral rehydration points). Chapter 7, Organisation of cholera treatment facilities, describes the organisation of these specialized facilities in terms of human resources, supply, water, hygiene and sanitation, etc. Chapter 8, Monitoring and evaluation, presents the key data to be collected and analysed during an epidemic to facilitate a tailored response and evaluate its quality and effectiveness.
The guide includes various practical tools in the appendices to facilitate activities (e.g. water quality tests, job descriptions, documents, etc.). Moreover, the toolbox also contains additional tools in editable formats (individual patient file, cholera case register, pictograms).
Despite all efforts, it is possible that certain errors may have been overlooked in this guide. Please inform the authors of any errors detected.
To ensure that this guide continues to evolve while remaining adapted to field realities, please send any comments or suggestions.
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Providing improved water supply to low-income urban communities is a difficult challenge faced by water utilities throughout Africa and Asia.
This
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guide provides an introduction to available options for serving these communities.
The guide draws on sector experience in general, and more particularly on WSUP’s extensive experience of implementing urban WASH programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.
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A new brief published by the IFRC and Climate Centre today details the adverse impacts of climate change on human health and provides more detail on the second of four pillars of action in the Red C
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ross Red Crescent Movement ambitions on climate.
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Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease that is usually contracted when drinking water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The fight against this disease requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines a
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water, hygiene and sanitation (WaSH) response with a monitoring system, improved water supply and quality, sanitation and hygiene, and a health response with the treatment of the disease itself.
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002439
South Sudan has a high burden – among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa – of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This adversely affects the health and social
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and economic well-being of people in the country. The prevention, control and eventual elimination of many NTDs depend heavily on improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and, once there is access, on sound sanitation and hygiene practices. This is especially the case in NTD endemic communities.
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Updated Interim guidance 29 July 2020
The provision of safe water, sanitation and waste management and
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hygienic conditions is essential for preventing and for protecting human health during all infectious disease outbreaks, including of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Ensuring evidenced-based and consistently applied WASH and waste management practices in communities, homes, schools, marketplaces, and healthcare facilities will help prevent human-to-human transmission of pathogens including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
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It is a pressing question for donors and NGOs alike: is funding development and humanitarian work in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) th
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e equivalent of pouring money into a bottomless pit, if achievements are only going to be undone by further cycles of violence? There is, of course, a strong humanitarian imperative to meet the needs of those caught up in violence. However, if the long-term aim of humanitarian and development efforts is the reduction of poverty, it begs the question: what contribution can these programmes make to building peace and stability – and thus increase their own effectiveness and sustainability?
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Climate-induced water insecurity poses one of the biggest threats to humanity and will lead to more hunger, disease and displacement
Oxfam
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water engineers are having to drill deeper, more expensive and harder-to-maintain water boreholes used by some of the poorest communities around the world, more often now only to find dry, depleted or polluted reservoirs.
Today, during World Water Week, Oxfam publishes the first of its series of reports, “Water Dilemmas”, about the growing water crisis, in large part driven by global heating from greenhouse gas emissions. The report describes how climate change will impact water security in different regions, leading to more hunger, disease and displacement.
Carlos Calderon, Humanitarian Advocacy and Partnerships Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa said, “This new Oxfam research is focused on the global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) situation, but it paints a picture that illustrates the complexity of elements that, combined, will continue to increasingly affect women, girls, boys and men in the decades to come. Changing weather, poverty, inequality, gender-based violence, political instability and conflicts are impacting the availability and quality of adequate water systems. All governments, particularly those from rich countries, should responsively take action at a global scale. The clock is ticking. Our children will judge us for our actions today, or for the lack of them.”
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Technical Note: Cholera treatment facilities provide inpatient care for cholera patients during outbreaks. Proper case management and isolation of cholera patients is essential to prevent deaths and
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help control the spread of
the disease. Traditionally, these structures have been referred to as cholera treatment centres (CTCs) and
cholera treatment units (CTUs). CTCs are usually large structures set up at central level (e.g. urban areas),
while CTUs are smaller structures set up in the periphery (e.g. peri-urban or rural areas). CTCs/CTUs can
be set up as independent structures in tents or within existing buildings or wards of health structures.
Whatever the structure, the principles described in this document should be respected
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