When water doesn’t flow….
According to the World Health Organization’s Essential Environmental Health Standards in Health Care, 100 liters of water are needed per medical intervention preformed in healthcare facilities.
When water does not flow from the piped water supply within the hospital, jerry cans (the yellow containers shown) are used to collect water from a nearby lake Managing Healthcare Facilities in Crisis through Innovation During water shortages, hospital staff adjust their expectations of patient care and have to make choices, which often compromise health outcomes.
The development and global health community is beginning to understand WASH conditions in healthcare facilities around the world as we collect more data in these settings.
What are the best ways for healthcare facilities to manage water when water scarcity is part of their everyday life?
My experience as a patient at the district hospital helped my colleagues expand the WASHCon Tool, to track the availability and utility of functioning toilets, who has access to them, and whether the facilities are locked.
This new tool has now collected data from 170 facilities in four countries.
As the WASH community works in partnership with development practitioners, global health researchers, and the private sector to reach Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), “achieve[ing] access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation” by 2030, it is imperative that more data be collected on WASH conditions in hospitals.
Researchers from the CGSW have been investigating the conditions of healthcare facilities in resource-limited countries and collecting primary data to inform interventions to improve access to safe drinking water.
Hospitalized in a health facility in Ghana for suspected appendicitis, she learned that while clean water is the gold standard in delivering patient care, limited access to an improved water source and seasonal water scarcity dictates water usage and availability for vulnerable populations within healthcare settings.