WASHplus NTD flyer

More than 1 billion people suffer from one or more NTDs, resulting in severe sickness, disability, and compromised mental and physical development. Soil-transmitted helminths (STH), schistosomiasis, and trachoma are all linked to inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, indicating a need for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions to combat these diseases. WASHplus, a project led by FHI 360, is documenting the links between WASH and NTDs and exploring ways to integrate WASH into NTD programs. A global desk review conducted by WASHplus highlights integration in eight countries, with a focus on two countries: Bangladesh and Burkina Faso. The team assessed the possibilities for integrating WASH into NTDs in both countries, ultimately choosing Burkina Faso as the site for a pilot program. WASHplus is collaborating with organizations already engaged in WASH-NTD integration, such as the International Coalition for Trachoma Control and the SHARE consortium, to develop tools and indicators for facilitating WASH-NTD integration. The pilot integration program for WASH and NTD interventions in Burkina Faso aims to develop an integrated WASH-NTD model that can be scaled up in-country and replicated elsewhere. Burkina Faso is a country with very little latrine coverage, relatively poor hygiene practices, and pockets of high burden of disease related to water, sanitation, and hygiene. Without a serious focus on face washing and environmental cleanliness, areas of high trachoma prevalence will persist, and schistosomiasis and STH will continue to surge with little hope of control much less elimination. WASHplus is working in Burkina Faso to partner with stakeholders at district and provincial levels to implement a comprehensive WASH-NTD integrated program in one district. The program will document and disseminate the learnings gained through this pilot program, engaging multiple stakeholders inside and outside of government, including working with existing government structures at multiple levels. WASHplus will also develop a comprehensive behavior change activity that targets women but includes the whole community as part of the integrated WASH-NTD implementation model. Training may focus on women, but activities will also include commune leaders, school leaders, and ongoing mass drug administration activities that will reinforce knowledge and introduce a component of behavior change. The WASHplus project supports healthy households and communities by creating and delivering interventions that lead to improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and household air pollution (HAP). This multi-year project, funded through USAID's Bureau for Global Health and led by FHI 360 in partnership with CARE and Winrock International, uses at-scale programming approaches to reduce diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory infections, the two top killers of children under age 5 globally.