WASH in Health Care Facilities

From 7-9th January 2016, 1600 public health experts and researchers from across India turned out for IAPSMCON2016. Jointly organised by GMERS Medical College’s Department of Community Medicine, and the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, the conference comprised of nine plenaries based on the theme of ‘Towards Sustainable Development’.

As one of the sub-themes was ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene’, SHARE supported several of our researchers to attend and present at the conference, and co-sponsored, with WHO, a session on ‘WASH in Health Care Facilities’. This was a particularly appropriate session given the conference location; the SHARE and WSSCC-funded WASH & CLEAN study had, after all, taken place in Gujarat.

Co-chaired by Dr Indira Chakravaty (a renowned public health personality and former Government of India Director of WASH and Deputy Director General for Health) and Dr Awashiya (Director of Public Health at the Government of Gujarat), the session was comprised of four presentations:

1. Dr H Shrivastava, In-Charge of Kayakalp (a Government of India programme that monitors WASH services in HCFs) presented on the Government’s efforts to deliver WASH in HCFs.
2. Dr Narayan Gaonkar, Health Specialist at UNICEF, presented on the status of WASH in health care facilities in high-priority talukas (district subdivisions) in Gujarat – thus far the WASH & CLEAN tools have been modified and applied to 8 priority talukas/approximately 40 health care facilities.
3. Dr Kranti Vora, Associate Professor at IIPH Gandhinagar, presented the WASH & CLEAN study and Tool Box.
4. Dr Deepak Saxena, Associate Professor at IIPH Gandhinagar, reviewed the tools available for evaluating WASH in at global and national levels (including the WASH & CLEAN Tool Box).

The session was very well attended and there was lot of interest in the WASH & CLEAN study from policy planners. For example, Dr Chakravaty was keen to take forward the tools developed and urged program managers to use them and to assist IIPH Gandhinagar in updating and developing the second version of Tool Box for more critical assessment of WASH in HCFs.

Overall, the conference was a huge success and attracted much media coverage. There was high-level attendance from Government of India representatives including: the Honourable Health Minister of India (Shri J P Nadda), a Health Minister from Gujarat and elected Assembly Members. Likewise, many senior policymakers and practitioners from multilateral and non-governmental organisations were present. These included: the World Health Organization’s Country Head, UNICEF’s Country Head of Nutrition, and programme officers from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CARE, ALIVE & THRIVE, FHI 360, TATA Trust, JHPIGEO, and GAIN. The conference thus provided an excellent opportunity to further share the findings of the WASH & CLEAN study and disseminate the Tool Box.

Presentations will soon be available here.