COVID-19 water, sanitation, and hygiene response: Review of measures and initiatives adopted by governments, regulators, utilities, and other stakeholders in 84 countries

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on handwashing as an inexpensive, widely applicable response measure. In consequence, most governments have taken action to promote access to water and sanitation services for all. This paper documents an overview of initiatives and interventions that countries have implemented during the first months of the COVID-19 response. Initiatives have been identified across 84 countries worldwide, and categorized into those that aimed at securing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for all, and those that sought to provide technical and financial support to service providers. The pandemic has not hit countries in the same way. Accordingly, results show disparities in the response between and within regions, with the level of activity found in the countries varying largely in terms of ambition and scope. Hygiene promotion and infection prevention and control (IPC) has been widely adopted – at least one response measure found in 94% of mapped countries -, although not always matched in ambition with the assured availability of soap, water, and handwashing facilities. Support to vulnerable households to promote basic access to WASH services at scale was weak (38% of countries) or implemented locally (25%), and requiring additional focus, particularly in rural areas and small towns. In addition, parallel support needs to be extended to service providers or to households themselves in the form of cash transfers, in order to ensure the financial viability and the continuity of services. All lessons learned distilled from the pandemic should help strengthen the enabling environment for more resilient services in future emergencies. Areas for focus could include developing specific pandemic response strategies and plans; strengthening coordination; and establishing emergency financial support mechanisms for water operators, for example. Overall, findings presented herein contribute to enhance current and future pandemics prevention, mitigation, and recovery.

Impact of COVID-19 on paediatric admissions to a Chinese hospital: a single-centre retrospective chart review

“…After the COVID-19 outbreak, the pandemic overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide, and administration departments worldwide have employed several measures to prevent further spread of the epidemic. 3 These measures, including but not limited to lockdown, curfews, restrained social activities, reinforced health education, mask wearing and frequent hand-washing, may affect the changes in disease patterns of hospitalised patients. 6 Other factors such as the inconvenience of trafficking or caregivers’ fear of the pandemic may also have an impact on the delayed provision of paediatric care.…”

“…On 11 March 2020, the WHO declared it a global pandemic. In response to the pandemic, many countries performed non-pharmaceutical interventions, including but not limited to social distancing, school closure, reinforced health education, mask wearing, hand hygiene and environmental cleaning, which may have a significant effect on the types and compositions of diseases in hospitalised children 3…”

Stakeholder Perspectives on COVID-19 and Household Water Access in Vulnerable Communities in the Mekong Region

“…A survey of households in 23 low-income and middle-income countries in 2017-18 found almost 70% had water-related problems in the previous month that made them vulnerable to COVID-19 (Stoler et al 2021). A review of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) measures adopted in 84 countries showed that, while hygiene and infection prevention has been widely promoted, support for vulnerable households was often weak and coverage incomplete (Giné-Garriga et al 2021). Inadequate water and sanitation infrastructure are frequently identified obstacles to improving hygiene practices, and thus reducing risks of COVID-19 infection (Howard 2021); for example, in remote Alaskan native between access, supply, and quality.…”

Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review

“…However, all these measures have not been useful, as they have not reached the poorest populations, and there is no evidence that WASH responses have been tailored to the needs of vulnerable populations [66,67]. In addition, governments and institutions may not have the political will to make a strong commitment to the realization of the rights to water and sanitation once the pandemic is over [68].…”

“…Most countries have developed mechanisms for action and coordination of emergencies with all these stakeholders. Similarly, much joint coordination was observed in the WASH, education, and health sectors [58,[68][69][70]. Despite all these efforts, the pandemic has demonstrated that better and greater coordination and collaboration is needed [71,72], including more political will from governments and commitment from all relevant partners at all different scales.…”