Four important activities to achieve climate resilient WASH services include: First, a risk analysis is performed to look at possible implications of extreme weather events as well as preventive actions. [136] :4 Such preventive actions can include for example elevating the infrastructure to be above expected flood levels. Secondly, managers assess the scope for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and put in place suitable options, e.g. using more renewable energy sources. Thirdly, the water utilities ensure that water sources and sanitation services are reliable at all times during the year, also during times of droughts and floods. Finally, the management and service delivery models are strengthened so that they can withstand a crisis. [136] :5 Improved handwashing practices among healthcare staff must be implemented. This requires functional hand washing stations at strategic points of care within the health facilities, i.e. at points of care and at toilets. Strengthening multi-sector, national institutions and platforms for policy development and the coordination of prevention and preparedness, including for anti-microbial resistance. Gender norms can negatively affect how men and women access water through such behavior expectations along gender lines—for example, when water collection is a woman's chore, men who collect water may face discrimination for performing perceived women's work. [83] Women are likely to be deterred from entering water utilities in developing countries because "social norms prescribe that it is an area of work that is not suitable for them or that they are incapable of performing well". [84] :13 Nevertheless, a study by World Bank in 2019 has found that the proportion of female water professionals has grown in the past few years. [84] :x Global climate change can increase the health risks for some of the infectious diseases mentioned above, see below in the section on negative impacts of climate change. [32] In non-household settings [ edit ]

Many co-benefits will be realized by safely managing WASH services and applying good hygiene practices. Such efforts will prevent other infectious diseases, which cause millions of deaths each year. a b Cronk, Ryan; Slaymaker, Tom; Bartram, Jamie (2015). "Monitoring drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in non-household settings: Priorities for policy and practice". International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. 218 (8): 694–703. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2015.03.003. PMID 25836758. Success also hinges on local-level leadership and a genuine collective commitment of school stakeholders towards school development. This applies to students and their representative clubs, headmaster, teachers and parents. Furthermore, other stakeholders have to be engaged in their direct sphere of influence, such as: community members, community-based organizations, educations official, local authorities. [67] [68] Group handwashing [ edit ] A community handwashing facility in Rwanda with sinks for people of different heights. During the COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda handwashing was part of a system of public health measures encouraged to reduce transmission. The effects of climate change can have negative impacts on existing sanitation services in several ways, for example by damage and loss of services from floods and reduced carrying capacity of waters receiving wastewater. [115] [116] [32] :23 The weather and climate-related aspects (variability, seasonality and extreme weather events) have always had an impact on the delivery of sanitation services. [117] :3 But now, extreme weather events, such as floods and droughts, are generally increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change in many regions. [118] :1157 They affect the operation of water supply, storm drainage and sewerage infrastructure, and wastewater treatment plants. [119] Further information: Sustainable Development Goal 6 and Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation World map for Indicator 6.2.1a in 2015: Share of population using safely managed sanitation facilities [11]

Our work

a b c "Water, Sanitation & Hygiene: Strategy Overview". Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation . Retrieved 27 April 2015. Stantec Whitepaper: Introduction to Coronavirus and Considerations for Water and Wastewater Treatment

India has made rapid progress in ending open defecation across the country. The number of people defecating in the open in India has reduced significantly by an estimated 450 million people. However, we all need to ensure sustained use of toilets and hygiene practices at all times. Open defecation has historically been most prevalent among the poorest citizens in the cities or the countryside. Awareness raising for the importance of WASH takes place through several United Nations international observance days, namely World Water Day, Menstrual Hygiene Day, World Toilet Day and Global Handwashing Day. A significant amount of our work occurs in fragile and emergency settings to help prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies. This includes transporting water, ensuring it is purified, and constructing toilets in refugee camps and transit centres. We work to construct water and sanitation facilities that outlast the emergency, while providing clear leadership and accountability in humanitarian response. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we’re supporting a communications campaign to ensure that people across the DRC know about the importance of handwashing and physical distancing. a b Charles, Katrina J.; Howard, Guy; Villalobos Prats, Elena; Gruber, Joshua; Alam, Sadekul; Alamgir, A.S.M.; Baidya, Manish; Flora, Meerjady Sabrina; Haque, Farhana; Hassan, S.M. Quamrul; Islam, Saiful (2022). "Infrastructure alone cannot ensure resilience to weather events in drinking water supplies". Science of the Total Environment. 813: 151876. BibcodMake Way for the Future of Sanitation: A Review of New Enterprise Models Shaping the Development of a Transformational Sanitation Economy,The Toilet Board Coalition(TBC)and EY. Preparedness and emergency response:Support affected, at-risk and low-capacity countries to secure Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in health facilities and communities. Drinking unsafe water impairs health through illnesses such as diarrhoea, and untreated excreta contaminates groundwaters and surface waters used for drinking-water, irrigation, bathing and household purposes. Improving access to WASH services can improve health, life expectancy, student learning, gender equality, and other important issues of international development. [29] It can also assist with poverty reduction and socio-economic development. [4] Health aspects [ edit ] Mortality rate attributable to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). [30] The "F-diagram" ( feces, fingers, flies, fields, fluids, food), showing pathways of fecal–oral disease transmission. The vertical blue lines show barriers: toilets, safe water, hygiene and handwashing. Categories of health impacts [ edit ] a b c Waddington H, Snilstveit B, White H, Fewtrell L (2012). "Water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to combat childhood diarrhoea in developing countries". Journal of Development Effectiveness. doi: 10.23846/sr0017.

The support provided by development agencies to the government at national, state and district levels is helpful to gradually create what is commonly referred to as an enabling environment for WASH in schools. [65] [66] A sanitation worker (or sanitary worker) is a person responsible for cleaning, maintaining, operating, or emptying the equipment or technology at any step of the sanitation chain. [59] :2 This is the definition used in the narrower sense within the WASH sector. More broadly speaking, sanitation workers may also be involved in cleaning streets, parks, public spaces, sewers, stormwater drains, and public toilets. [98] Another definition is: "The moment an individual’s waste is outsourced to another, it becomes sanitation work." [99] :4 Some organizations use the term specifically for municipal solid waste collectors, whereas others exclude the workers involved in management of solid waste (rubbish, trash) sector from its definition. Mitigating secondary impacts:WASH services and products are essential for well-functioning health care facilities and to avoid disrupting community livelihoods and wellbeing.Adaptive capacity in water management systems can help to absorb some of the impacts of climate-related events and increase climate resilience. [1] :25 Stakeholders at various scales, i.e. from small urban utilities to national governments, need to have access to reliable information which details regional climate and climate change. For example, context-specific climate tools can help national policy makers and sub-national practitioners to make informed decisions to improve climate resilience. [1] A global research program called REACH (led by the University of Oxford and funded by the UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) is developing and using such climate tools for Kenya, Ethiopia and Bangladesh during 2015 to 2024. [1] Planning approaches [ edit ] Distributing jerrycans to help people store clean drinking water in the Philippines National WASH plans and monitoring [ edit ] With the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016, IPC needs resulted in a vibrant, focused interest in WASH in HCF. Subsequent analysis — including WHO’s 2015 report identifying the poor WASH situation in HCFs globally and the high risk of HCAIs — has led to increased interest in the issues.