Imagine giving birth in a health care facility with no clean water or no way for your doctor or nurse to wash their hands between seeing patients. In many parts of the developing world, pregnant women have to bring their own water to the health clinic to wash themselves and their newborn babies after giving birth. It’s not a surprise that infections spread and what should be a joyous occasion, the miracle of birth, instead becomes a death sentence for the baby and/or mother.
The global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health sectors are determined to do something about this situation and World Vision and our partners are announcing a new commitment today to help lead the way (see media release). I’m honored to make this commitment on behalf of World Vision at an event in Washington DC organized by Global WASH 2020 and the Global Health Council in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF - as well as to serve on the WHO/UNICEF WASH and Health Care interim advisory group that is focused on this issue.
The Problem:
A recent joint monitoring report by WHO and UNICEF showed that two billion people use health care facilities (HCF) that lack basic water services. The collaboration between World Vision and the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina was one of the seven main data sources for this ground-breaking report. The results showed that in the rural areas of the developing world, where World Vision focuses, the situation is the most dire. An estimated one-half of health care facilities in sub-Saharan Africa lack basic water access and the situation for basic sanitation and hygiene services is even worse than that with clean water. Inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene in health care facilities results in higher maternal and neonatal deaths, increases the spread of antimicrobial resistance, and leads to more infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola. In addition, the lack of safe drinking water and functional and accessible toilets with menstrual hygiene facilities impacts patient and health care staff dignity.
New Commitment:
World Vision and partners commit to providing basic water, sanitation, and hygiene service in 800 rural health care facilities serving an estimated 7.2 million people at a cost of approximately $100 million between 2019-2021. The work will be done in 35 countries where World Vision focuses our WASH efforts with a special focus on - Ghana, India, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Key partners of this commitment include charity: water, Grundfos, the CDC, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Dornsife Family, Golf Fore Africa, Midmark Corporation, Robert and Laura Abernathy, the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Wells Bring Hope.
How We Do the Work:
World Vision uses a comprehensive community based effort to provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene in communities, in schools, and health care facilities. We use assessment tools such as WASHFIT so that the local health care facility management and staff can determine the needs for improvement. We work with a wide group of stakeholders including community members and natural leaders; local, district, and national governments, other development partners, corporate partners and academic partners to provide WASH interventions that last. We train the staff on hygiene, sanitation, and waste management including disinfection during cleaning. We provide handwashing stations with soap in all the areas where patients are seen, waste buckets for segregation of waste into sharps, hazardous and nonhazardous waste, and an incinerator on premises. We provide gender segregated latrines and a place for women to wash themselves including after birth. We provide water points directly into the facility.
Commitment in Context:
World Vision and our partners have committed to reach everyone, everywhere we work with clean water by 2030, approximately 50 million people. As an interim goal to ensure we remain on track, we have committed to reach 20 million people with clean water between 2015 to 2020. Three years into this commitment we are on track and have reached 12.7 million people. We have also committed to reach 1 million people with clean water in Rwanda between 2018-2022 in order to provide clean water to everyone, everywhere we work in an entire country. This expands our commitments to put a special focus on WASH in HCF.
Thank you!
World Vision is grateful to our many donors and partners that have made this commitment possible. I’ve spent the last several weeks in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda where families are thriving because of our WASH efforts and I’m extremely encouraged that we are able to make this new commitment to help millions more.
Prayer
Pray for the safety of mothers and babies who do not have safe water, sanitation, or hygiene in health care facilities.
Give praise for God’s appointment of World Vision to help lead the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector and that we will continue to have his favor.
Pray that this commitment will inspire others to make similar commitments so that all health care facilities can have clean water, sanitation, and hygiene by 2030.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
In 2017, 85 percent of World Vision's total operating expenses were used for programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need. Learn More.
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The global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health sectors are determined to do something about this situation and World Vision and our partners are announcing a new commitment today to help lead the way (
World Vision and partners commit to providing basic water, sanitation, and hygiene service in 800 rural health care facilities serving an estimated 7.2 million people at a cost of approximately $100 million between 2019-2021. The work will be done in 35 countries where World Vision focuses our WASH efforts with a special focus on - Ghana, India, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Key partners of this commitment include charity: water, Grundfos, the CDC, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Dornsife Family, Golf Fore Africa, Midmark Corporation, Robert and Laura Abernathy, the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Wells Bring Hope. 
World Vision and our partners have committed to reach everyone, everywhere we work with clean water by 2030, approximately 50 million people. As an interim goal to ensure we remain on track, we have committed to reach 20 million people with clean water between 2015 to 2020. Three years into this commitment we are on track and have reached 12.7 million people. We have also committed to reach 1 million people with clean water in Rwanda between 2018-2022 in order to provide clean water to everyone, everywhere we work in an entire country. This expands our commitments to put a special focus on WASH in HCF.
