A manual for WASH implementers has been developed to address the need for integration of WASH factors with control of NTDs.
To promote intersectoral collaboration between water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) factors with control of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), a new resource has been developed to promote increased collaboration. Children Without Worms, the International Trachoma Initiative, Emory University’s Center for Global Safe Water, CARE, WaterAid and WASH Advocates have developed WASH and the Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Manual for WASH Implementers.
The manual is intended to serve as a practical guide for those working to implement, support, and sustain WASH interventions at country level. Prevalence maps from the Global Atlas of Helminth Infections and the Global Atlas of Trachoma are used throughout the manual to show prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths, schistosomiasis and trachoma.
Kerry Gallo, Children Without Worms' Senior Program Associate, said: “Over one billion people are at risk of infection with NTDs and many of these diseases are entirely preventable with improved WASH. Collaboration between the WASH and NTD sectors is essential to achieve our common goal of improving health and development for the world’s poorest communities.”
Country-specific manuals will enable WASH implementers to easily access the most relevant information about the NTDs endemic in their countries of practice. This information will help WASH organisations to identify where their programme areas overlap with areas affected by NTDs, and target their interventions to have even greater impact on these diseases.This has been recognised as essential to achieving the elimination of the blinding disease trachoma and the control and prevention of other WASH-related NTDs, including soil-transmitted helminthiasis, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis and guinea worm disease. These new resources, targeted specifically towards the WASH sector, are an innovative approach to scaling up NTD control.
This is funded by Sightsavers' Innovation Fund, which is part of a five-year Programme Partnership Arrangement that Sightsavers holds with the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID).
To read more about the NTD Burden and WASH Access Index and to access the manuals, please visit www.washntds.org.