Water, sanitation & hygiene (WASH)

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 WASH - Exposure

WASH exposures:
• Drinking water, sanitation and hygiene
• Recreational water
• Water resource management
• Wastewater treatment, discharge and reuse.

Please consult the JMP website for the most

recent data on exposure: https://washdata.org/
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 WASH - Exposure (continued)

WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) service ladders for WASH

DRINKING WATER SANITATION

SAFELY SAFELY HYGIENE

MANAGED MANAGED
BASIC
BASIC BASIC

LIMITED
LIMITED LIMITED

NO
UNIMPROVED UNIMPROVED
FACILITY

SURFACE OPEN Source: 3

WATER DEFECATION https://washdata.org/monitoring
 WASH - Water contaminants

Microbial:
• Bacteria (e.g., E.coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio)
• Viruses (e.g., Hepatitis A or E virus, Norovirus, Rotavirus)
• Protozoa (e.g., Cryptosporidium, Amoeba, Giardia)
• Helminths (e.g., Dracunculus).

Chemicals, e.g., Lead, Arsenic, Fluoride.

Radioactive substances (usually small health risks).

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 WASH - Health impacts

Unsafe WASH causes more than 1 million deaths from diarrhoea each year.

• Diarrhoea, 69% *
• Acute respiratory infections, 14%
• Malnutrition, 10%
• Soil-transmitted helminth infections, 100%
• Trachoma, 100%
• Schistosomiasis, 43% *The percentages indicate
• Malaria, 80% the proportion of disease
that is due to unsafe WASH.
• Lymphatic filariasis, 67%
• Onchocerciasis, 10%
• Dengue, 95%
• Japanese encephalitis, 95%.
Source: WHO WASH-attributable burden of disease, 2019 5
WHO 2019: Safer Water, Better Health
 WASH - Actions for health (1)

Selected actions and policies for promoting safe WASH:

✓ Improve national monitoring of WASH and wastewater and support global monitoring
(Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation
(GLAAS)).
✓ Implement drinking water and sanitation standards that are in line with the WHO drinking
water and sanitation guidelines.
✓ Promote access to safely managed WASH services and improved wastewater
management.
✓ Promote household water treatment and safe storage as interim solutions.

Further guidance
on WASH & 6
health action
 WASH – Actions for health (2)

Selected actions and policies for promoting safe WASH:

✓ Protect water supplies with Water Safety Plans.
✓ Implement sanitation safety planning.
✓ Implement hygiene interventions, such as handwashing promotion.
✓ Strengthen surveillance of WASH service quality and integrate it
into disease surveillance and national health management
information systems.

Further guidance
on WASH & 7
health action
 WASH - Further resources

✓ Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health and environments, WASH section
✓ WHO’s Water safety plan manual
✓ WHO EURO 2014: Water safety plan: a field guide for small communities
✓ WHO’s Sanitation safety planning
✓ WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality
✓ WHO Guidelines on sanitation and health
✓ WHO health topic: WASH (links to many resources)
✓ WHO Team: Water, Sanitation and Health (links to many resources)
✓ WHO EURO health topic: WASH (links to many resources)

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Thank you!
Please check the resources.

Photo credits

WHO/ Ilyas Ahmed slide 2

WHO/ Billy Miaron slides 4
Shutterstock / PradeepGaurs slide 5
WHO slide 7