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Essential WASH Actions: A Training and Reference Pack to Supplement Essential Nutrition Actions

Authors:
FHI 360
Year Published:
2017
Resource Type:
Technical Guidance
Language:
English

Nutrition and food security specialists understand that nutrition sensitive interventions are necessary to improve the health and well-being of young children. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are important nutrition-sensitive interventions. While interest in WASH-nutrition integration has increased, more tools and programming guidance are needed to assist practitioners incorporate WASH into nutrition and food security programming.

The term Essential Hygiene Actions has been used recently and incorporated into TOPS and other reference manuals and training guides, referring to the range of nutrition-sensitive WASH actions. This toolkit offers a more comprehensive set of Essential WASH Actions, reference materials for health workers, nutrition managers and community workers, and training materials to build capacity of all cohorts to promote the EWAs in an outreach and discussion context.

This set of Essential WASH Actions clearly outlines five essential actions and a set of accompanying behaviors needed to support the Essential Nutrition Actions:

  1. Safe disposal of human feces through latrine use and promoting "open defecation-free communities."
  2. Wash hands with soap at critical times.
  3. Safe storage and treatment of household drinking water.
  4. Hygienic handling and safe storage of food (food hygiene).
  5. Separating infants and young children from consuming soil and animal feces.