Regional consultation on developing guidelines for water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in schools

Abstract

Most Member countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region do not have in place comprehensive guidelines on establishing and maintaining water supply and sanitation facilities, and for the promotion of hygiene in schools. There are also no fixed standards on water quality, sanitation and hygiene education. While some countries have taken the initiative to provide such education through the school health programme, lack of guidance and preset standards on initiating water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in schools retards the progress of school health promotion activities in most countries. A Regional Consultation on Developing Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Guidelines for Schools was organized during 28-30 September 2009 jointly by the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, and WHO/SEARO in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Thirty three participants, including school health programme managers, sanitary engineers and public health officers from 10 Member States of the WHO SEA Region - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste - attended the consultation along with regional representatives from UNESCO and the International Federation for Red Cross and Red Crescent. This is the report of the said consultation, a key recommendation of which was to develop a regional guidance document which would be useful in developing country-level operational guidelines.