Back to Search Start Over

Improving water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), with a focus on hand hygiene, globally for community mitigation of COVID-19

Authors :
David Berendes
Andrea Martinsen
Matthew Lozier
Anu Rajasingham
Alexandra Medley
Taylor Osborne
Victoria Trinies
Ryan Schweitzer
Graeme Prentice-Mott
Caroline Pratt
Jennifer Murphy
Christina Craig
Mohammed Lamorde
Maureen Kesande
Fred Tusabe
Alex Mwaki
Alie Eleveld
Aloyce Odhiambo
Isaac Ngere
M. Kariuki Njenga
Celia Cordon-Rosales
Ana Paulina Garzaro Contreras
Douglas Call
Brooke M. Ramay
Ronald Eduardo Skewes Ramm
Cecilia Jocelyn Then Paulino
Charles Daniel Schnorr
Michael De St. Aubin
Devan Dumas
Kristy O. Murray
Nicholas Bivens
Anh Ly
Ella Hawes
Adrianna Maliga
Gerhaldine Morazan
Russell Manzanero
Francis Morey
Peter Maes
Yagouba Diallo
Marcelin Ilboudo
Daphney Richemond
Omar El Hattab
Pierre Yves Oger
Ayuko Matsuhashi
Gertrude Nsambi
Jeremie Antoine
Richard Ayebare
Teddy Nakubulwa
Waverly Vosburgh
Amy Boore
Amy Herman-Roloff
Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez
Tom Handzel
Source :
PLOS Water. 1:e0000027
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2022.

Abstract

Continuity of key water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure and WASH practices—for example, hand hygiene—are among several critical community preventive and mitigation measures to reduce transmission of infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. WASH guidance for COVID-19 prevention may combine existing WASH standards and new COVID-19 guidance. Many existing WASH tools can also be modified for targeted WASH assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic. We partnered with local organizations to develop and deploy tools to assess WASH conditions and practices and subsequently implement, monitor, and evaluate WASH interventions to mitigate COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa, focusing on healthcare, community institution, and household settings and hand hygiene specifically. Employing mixed-methods assessments, we observed gaps in access to hand hygiene materials specifically despite most of those settings having access to improved, often onsite, water supplies. Across countries, adherence to hand hygiene among healthcare providers was about twice as high after patient contact compared to before patient contact. Poor or non-existent management of handwashing stations and alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) was common, especially in community institutions. Markets and points of entry (internal or external border crossings) represent congregation spaces, critical for COVID-19 mitigation, where globally-recognized WASH standards are needed. Development, evaluation, deployment, and refinement of new and existing standards can help ensure WASH aspects of community mitigation efforts that remain accessible and functional to enable inclusive preventive behaviors.

Details

ISSN :
27673219
Volume :
1
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
PLOS Water
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........bd90d740eded166d3726cd4a11682583
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000027