Water, sanitation and hygiene standards in schools in low-cost settings

The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking assistance from those with suitable experience to review the draft – Water, sanitation and hygiene standards in schools in low-cost settings Draft- WASH Standards in Schools.  A “Response Form” which details the type of review being sought g can be found here Response Form .  Responses from interested individuals/institutions should be sent by 28 February 2009.

The guidelines deal specifically with water supply (water quality, quantity and access), hygiene promotion, sanitation, control of vector-borne disease, cleaning and waste disposal and food storage and preparation. They are designed for use in low-cost settings where simple and affordable measures can make a significant improvement to hygiene and health.

The draft guidelines have been edited by John Adams, Jamie Bartram, Yves Chartier and Jackie Sims.

New paradigm for periurban WatSan

Prof. Duncan Mara, University of Leeds, has made the paper he co-authored with Dr Graham Alabaster of UN-Habitat, “A new paradigm for low-cost urban water supplies and sanitation in developing countries” [Water Policy 10 (2), 119−129, doi:10.2166/wp.2008.034] available on-line − pdf here, and more info here.

In his blog Mara says: “the New Paradigm is very simply stated: Supply water and sanitation to groups of households, not individual households. Why? Because it’s much cheaper − and likely to be one of the main ways the MDG sanitation target can be met”.

 

Malawi – Integration of Water Sanitation and Hygiene into HIV/AIDS Home-Based Care Strategies.

In 2007, Catholic Relief Services and the Hygiene Improvement Project (HIP) conducted a workshop in Malawi on the Integration of Water Sanitation and Hygiene into HIV/AIDS Home-Based Care Strategies.

The background and discussion papers, an annotated bibliography and the workshop final report are now posted on the Environmental Health at USAID website.

Ghana – 33rd WEDC International Conference – Access to Sanitation and Safe Water

33^rd WEDC International Conference – Access to Sanitation and Safe Water: Global Partnerships and Local Actions
Location: Accra, Ghana
Dates: 7-11 April 2008

The conference is organized around four main themes:

• Water Resources
• Water Supply
• Environmental Sanitation
• Institutional and Management Issues

Lasting five days and hosted by Ghana’s Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, the conference will attract around 500 delegates from across the world. More than 120 papers and posters will be presented during the event, which will also feature informal discussion groups, debates and workshops.

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Sri Lanka: many post-tsunami housing schemes lack proper water and sanitation

21 Jan 2008, Source South Asia

Millions of dollars in foreign aid have been spent on tsunami relief in Sri Lanka since December 2004, but three years later, some new settlements still lack basic facilities. A recent study found that over 60 per cent of all the new relocated occupants surveyed found the amenities, including water, worse than before the tsunami. With donor aid for tsunami projects ending, significant support is still needed for infrastructure.

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Emergencies: global review of water and sanitation in refugee camps

23 Jan 2008, Source Weekly

The first global overview of basic water and sanitation indicators in refugee camps is presented (using data from 2003–2006) and compared with selected health and nutrition indicators. This demonstrates that average levels of water and sanitation provision are acceptable at camp level, but many refugee operations are suffering from gaps that cross-cut these sectors; e.g. typically poor sanitation provision is corresponding with low per capita availability of water.

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