Accessing Water

Accessing Safe Water

Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for People Living with HIV and AIDS: A Cross-Sectional Study in Nepal

  • Source:
  • WaterAid in Nepal. 2010.

  • Summary:
  • The main objective of the study was to increase the understanding of PLHAs’ access to WASH and its impact on their daily lives in order to inform the health, HIV/AIDS and WASH sectors of the various issues involved. Specifically, the study aimed to: - Assess the prevailing knowledge, opinions and practices of WASH amongst PLHA. - Learn about the experiences of PLHA with regards to their access to WASH and factors associated with it. - Gather views of PLHA on WASH and its link to their social lives and health. - Highlight the need for cross-sector debate and efforts to address the WASH issues for PLHA within the health, HIV/AIDS and WASH sectors.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Evidence Base Handwashing (Hand Washing) People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Sanitation/Feces Disposal Stigma
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Considerations in Home-Based Care for People Living with HIV

    • Source:
    • Seremet C. 2010. Catholic Relief Services

    • Summary:
    • This guidance document offers water supply, sanitation facility ,and hygiene promotion design considerations and recommendations intended to increase access to WASH facilities for people living with HIV. This guide is targeted both to home-based care practitioners serving people living with HIV/AIDS, and water and sanitation engineers and technicians tasked with providing community water supply and household sanitation systems.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Best Practices and Lessons Learned Handwashing (Hand Washing) Home-Based Care People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Programming Guidance Sanitation/Feces Disposal
  • Access to Water and Sanitation for People Living with HIV and AIDS: An Exploratory Study

    • Source:
    • Nkongo D. 2009. AMREF Tanzania. WaterAid

    • Summary:
    • Water and sanitation needs of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) and the likely consequences of inadequate access to water by their households are often not explicitly identified, and integrated into HIV and AIDS interventions and water and sanitation sector programmes. There is a lack of clear arrangements on access to water and sanitation for PLHIV, some evidence of stigma, and overlapping interests between the water and sanitation sector and the HIV and AIDS sector, though not much cooperation between sectors in practice, or in harmonised hygiene promotion messages. Based on these findings, the study makes the following recommendations: water and sanitation programmes should develop strategic partnerships with other stakeholders such as those working on HIV and AIDS to address the most vulnerable including PLHIV and develop alternative strategies to ensure that vulnerable households have access to water and sanitation facilities. Common messages on water and sanitation hygiene should be developed and used by both water and sanitation programmes, and HIV and AIDS programmes to improve chances of message uptake.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Programming Guidance Sanitation/Feces Disposal Stigma
  • Making the Links: Mapping the Relationship between Water, Hygiene and Sanitation, and HIV/AIDS: A Joint Think-Piece by WaterAid Ethiopia and Progynist

    • Source:
    • WaterAid. 2009. London, UK.

    • Summary:
    • Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, already facing numerous obstacles to overcoming this poverty, has in the last twenty years seen HIV/AIDS emerge as a huge threat to people’s lives, and a significant barrier to development. While everyone is vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, the people worst affected are those living in poor, overcrowded areas that lack adequate sanitary facilities, water supply, and medical care – and where family nutrition levels are low. This paper aims to focus on the links between hygiene, sanitation, and HIV/AIDS. Having a potable water supply and latrine close to one’s home is a basic human right that enables people to live healthier lives, free from the risks of water and sanitation-related illnesses; for a person living with HIV/AIDS access to water and sanitation facilities is especially critical, as the risks posed by poor facilities can be fatal for someone who has contracted the virus.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Evidence Base Handwashing (Hand Washing) Nutrition People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Sanitation/Feces Disposal
  • Integration of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene into HIV Programs: Lessons from Malawi

    • Source:
    • Senefeld S, Powell A. 2009. Catholic Relief Services

    • Summary:
    • Adequate clean water, improved sanitation infrastructure, and better hygiene may significantly improve health outcomes for people living with HIV (PLHIV) in resource-poor settings. Catholic Relief Services Malawi, with support from the World Health Organization and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), implemented a pilot project to identify household scale changes or actions that could improve WSH conditions for PLHIV. An evaluation showed substantial changes in six targeted behaviors and a reduction in the overall prevalence of diarrhea, suggesting that this is an effective approach to ameliorating WSH conditions for those affected by HIV.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Diarrheal Diseases Evaluations Formative Research Handwashing (Hand Washing) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Sanitation/Feces Disposal
  • Waterborne Pathogen Infection Rates for People Living With HIV/AIDS

    • Source:
    • Mahin T, Peletz R. 2009. Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST).

    • Summary:
    • CAWST has prepared summaries on HIV/AIDS statistics for Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Household Water Treatment & Storage People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV)
  • Programming Guidance for Integrating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Improvement into HIV/AIDS Programs to Reduce Diarrhea Morbidity (May 2008)

    • Source:
    • HIP. 2008. USAID

    • Summary:
    • Evidence is growing on the effectiveness of integrating safe water, hygiene, and sanitation interventions into HIV/AIDS programs, but little specific programming guidance exists. This document expands on an earlier August 2006 version with concrete guidance for implementers of HIV/AIDS care and support activities. USAID/HIP and the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program developed these recommendations through extensive consultations with HIV/AIDS and water sector researchers and program implementers and a broad review of the literature from different sectors.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Diarrheal Diseases Enabling Technologies Evidence Base Formative Research Handwashing (Hand Washing) Household Water Treatment & Storage People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) PEPFAR Programming Guidance Reports Sanitation/Feces Disposal
  • HIV/AIDS: Making the Links with WASH

    • Source:
    • IRC. 2007. Delft, IRC International.Water and Sanitation Centre.

    • Summary:
    • Strategies to care for people infected with HIV/AIDS and the correlation with water, sanitation and hygiene should be explored by asking questions such as: How does the family get water? Will there be any changes in the family’s water needs? If so, what might these be? What can be done to prolong the progression from HIV to AIDS? Exploring these questions, water, sanitation and hygiene needs of households affected by HIV/AIDS; links with home-based care and clinics for treatment, care and support; and the implications for policy makers, planners and health promoters, can be discussed together constructively.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Handwashing (Hand Washing) Healthcare Facilities Home-Based Care People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Policy Programming Guidance Sanitation/Feces Disposal
  • HIV/AIDS: Caring for HIV-Infected People in South Africa Requires Love, Patience and 200 Liters of Water Per Day

    • Source:
    • IRC. 2007. Newsletter, May 2007. Delft, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

    • Summary:
    • Home-based caregivers provide critical support for people who are HIV infected and ill in South Africa as in many other countries. However, their role is made more difficult by limited water supplies and in some cases by inadequate toilets. Limits on water supply also compromise the impact of health and hygiene education and promotion carried out by community health workers. Members of four local Home-Based Care (HBC) groups visit households with HIV infected people three times a week in this community. The caregivers undertake a wide range of activities, including fetching water, bathing patients, washing, laundry, digging pits for solid waste disposal, cleaning households and yards, assistance with access to social, health and other services, and providing counselling, information and support.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Evidence Base Home-Based Care People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Sanitation/Feces Disposal
  • Water and Sanitation Assessment of Home-Based Care Clients in Malawi

    • Source:
    • Lockwood K et al. 2006. Baltimore, MD. Catholic Relief Services

    • Summary:
    • The assessment was commissioned by the WHO with the goal of producing evidence-based guidance on water and sanitation needs in home-based care strategies, particularly in resource-poor situations, and to lead to both practical and strategic recommendations at the programme and policy levels, while identifying the most critical measures to be taken by the health sector and the water and sanitation sector to provide short and medium-term solutions in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene support to home-based care. The findings indicate that the water and sanitation needs of HBC clients are severely unfulfilled. The already vulnerable HBC population is regularly falling ill due to diarrhea. Other illnesses and effects of poor water quality are also evident among the HBC clients. In addition, the HBC households are often required to travel long distances to their water sources, which is exceptionally difficult for ill clients.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Diarrheal Diseases Evidence Base Handwashing (Hand Washing) Home-Based Care Household Water Treatment & Storage Programming Guidance Sanitation/Feces Disposal