The WaterAid organised an inception workshop of ‘WASH Systems of Health’ project at Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka on Saturday.
The workshop was graced by Department of Public Health Engineering chief engineer Tushar Mohon Shadhu Khan as chief guest.
Special guests included regional director of WaterAid South Asia Md Khairul Islam, WaterAid Bangladesh country director Hasin Jahan, British high commission in Dhaka health portfolio lead Rashid Zaman, Policy Support Branch’s deputy secretary Swe Min Zaw, Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, and officials from local municipalities, several NGOs, private sector actors, and consortium organisation, SNV Bangladesh were also present at the event.
The project led by WaterAid-SNV consortium and funded with the United Kingdom International Development from the UK government, aims to address critical sector blockages to address context specific WASH challenges at national levels in Bangladesh.
The approach involves strengthening local governance through government-led planning, monitoring, and regulation; fostering community engagement and women’s leadership; developing resilient infrastructure and professional service models for rural water supply and urban sanitation; and leveraging project learning to influence national policies.
The WASH Systems of Health project will aim to address these challenges by transitioning communities from basic to safely managed water and sanitation services in two climate vulnerable areas – Paikgacha and Lalmonirhat, thereby reducing preventable deaths of mothers, children, and infants due to WASH-related diseases.
Tushar Mohon Shadhu Khan stated, ‘We must strengthen healthcare systems at the upazila levels. The challenges in the project locations are critical, and I hope the project addresses them through a feasibility study to bridge the gaps between health systems and WASH systems.’
‘It is essential to focus on the sustainability of the infrastructure we build in communities and promote behavior change among the people,’ he added.
Khairul Islam stated, “We must integrate health systems and WASH systems into one another, allocate resources equitably, and ensure that access to safe WASH services starts from health clinics, complexes and hospitals at the upazila level.’
Mr Rashid Zaman said, ‘While we have made significant health strides during COVID-19, we must continue our efforts and ensure sustainability in health and WASH outcomes. The recent unprecedented flood crises have yet again highlighted the importance of WASH, and thus the need for collaboration to scale up our efforts based on lessons learned.’
In Bangladesh, comprehensive WASH policies exist. Yet, local governments encounter significant barriers such as resource gaps, inadequate capacity, lack of women leadership, and ineffective service delivery models. Despite significant progress in access to basic services, the journey towards safely managed WASH is alarmingly slow. Only 61 per cent have access to safely managed water, and 20 per cent have access to safely managed sanitation.
