A four-day workshop from 10 October to 13 October 2022 on WASH and Climate Resilience and Environmental Sustainability in Health Care Facilities is being held in the city today. This workshop aims to strengthen Member States' capacity to improve WASH in healthcare facilities and, enhance climate resilience and environmental sustainability and reduce carbon emissions in healthcare towards meeting the COP26 Health commitments. WASH in health facilities is the most basic requirement of infection prevention and control, quality care, and fundamental to respecting the dignity and human rights of every person seeking health care.
“Bangladesh Government is working hard to improve the WASH in healthcare facilities. With support from WHO we have developed WASH strategy and Standards for healthcare facilities. WASH indicators are included in Health Management Information System to track progress toward SDG targets. However, we need a lot more to do about building the capacity of health care staff, developing dedicated WASH programs in the health sector plan, and effectively monitoring for achieving our national targets.” Mrs. Nilufer Nazneen, Additional Secretary, (WH) MOH said while gracing as chief guest in the event of Capacity Building and Regional Knowledge Exchange workshop.
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Dr Bardan Jung Rana, WR to Bangladesh greet the participants and deliver his speech, Photo credit: WHO/WASH team member
On behalf of Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO SEARO, Dr Bardan Jung Rana, WHO Representative to Bangladesh, delivered the opening remarks. After delivering the RD’s opening remarks, Dr Rana added, “Water and Sanitation for Health Facility Improvement Tool, in short WASH-FIT, is a new intervention for improvement of WASH in health care facilities in Bangladesh. WASH FIT was first piloted at Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar, considering the grave public health situation there., The health facilities saw commendable improvements in healthcare quality.” (WR said)
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Mrs. Nilufer Nazneen, Additional Secretary, (WH) MOH gave the opening remarks. Photo credit: WHO/Salma Sultana
The Global progress report on WASH in Health care Facilities identifies major global gaps in WASH services. 10% of healthcare facilities globally have no sanitation services, and one in three does not have adequate facilities to clean hands at the point of care. One in three healthcare facilities does not segregate waste safely. WASH services are especially deficient in least-developed countries (LDCs). Countries are taking steps to address the situation, but progress is variable and insufficient.
WHO launched the second edition of the WHO/UNICEF Water and Sanitation for Health Facility Improvement Tool (WASH FIT) in April 2022. This second edition responds to member states and user requests for more guidance and information on incorporating climate, environment, gender, and equity considerations throughout each of the 5 WASH FIT steps, as well as a greater focus on sustainability, implementation, and engagement with health actors. The Second Edition also includes a set of fact sheets, checklists, updated assessments, and examples of national adoption and use of WASH FIT. The guide is accompanied by a comprehensive training manual and set of training slides, all of which are yet to be introduced to the countries in the SEA region.
Several member-state countries from the SEA region, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and Timor-Leste, participated in the workshop.
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In this four days’ workshop there are number of sessions is being conducted by the facilitator from WHO HQ and other UN and partner organizations. With the support of different tools and method below sessions will be taken place in the next three days.
- Global & Regional overview of WASH in health care facilities
- An introduction to WHO’s approaches and processes to strengthen climate resilience and environmental sustainability in health care facilities
- Current status of WASH and climate resilience in health care facilities
- Introduction to WASH FIT framework and second edition of the tool
- Integrating Gender, Equality and Social Inclusion into plans for WASH in Health care facilities
- Assessing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and measuring the carbon footprint of health care facilities
- Technical guidance & WASH FIT indicators (Part 1, 2, 3)
- Sustainability of WASHFIT
- Introduction to the SEARO WASH and Climate Resilience scorecard for health care facilities
- Roadmaps for Climate-smart Health care
It is expected that after participating in this knowledge-sharing workshop, the participants' awareness will enhance healthcare facilities, climate resilience, and environmental sustainability. In addition, they will gather knowledge to identify the current gaps and areas of improvement to work together for future success in this area.
For more information on the issues covered in this web story, please contact ssultana@who.int