National Guidelines for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Healthcare Facilities in Nigeria.

The National Guidelines on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Healthcare Facilities is a comprehensive document designed to guide, standardise, and strengthen the provision of WASH services by various stakeholders at all levels, addressing the prevalent WASH-related issues in Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) in Nigeria. The primary goal is to institutionalise WASH in all HCFs to improve the quality of healthcare services in the country. These guidelines are intended for all health sector stakeholders, including those involved in the architectural and design work of healthcare facilities. The tool covers four key domains: Water (quantity and quality), Sanitation (fecal waste, stormwater, and healthcare waste), Hygiene (hand hygiene and environmental disinfection), and Management (planning, budgeting, monitoring, and reporting).
The specific objectives of these Guidelines are to (i) offer practical guidance for the effective and efficient provision of standardized WASH services in both public and private healthcare facilities to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in Nigeria; (ii) provide benchmarks for monitoring WASH services in HCFs; (iii) operationalize the WASH component of the National Strategic Health Development Plan II (NSHDP II) 2018-2022 and beyond; (iv) improve sanitation and hygiene practices in HCFs; (v) define standard protocols for WASH practices for health workers, patients, caregivers, and visitors in HCFs.
The implementation of the National Guidelines will be carried out by all relevant stakeholders through several strategies: integrating WASH services into regular health sector planning, budgeting, and programming, including COVID-19 response and recovery efforts; developing facility-based costed action plans for sustainable WASH services encompassing IPC, healthcare management, and hygiene behavior change programs; conducting advocacy to political, traditional, and private sector leaders for ownership and support; ensuring effective collaboration with stakeholders, development partners, NGOs, media, disability support organizations, women and youth groups, and patient support groups; building the capacity of all healthcare workers to adhere to standardized Infecon Prevenon and Control (IPC) practices; implementing WASH guidelines in line with existing IPC programmatic structures at every HCF as recommended by WHO's minimum requirements for IPC programs; providing dedicated budget lines to improve and maintain WASH services in healthcare facilities; constituting dedicated WASH teams in every HCF or appointing a WASH focal person where staff is insufficient; building and maintaining a database for WASH services at all levels; conducting regular risk and hazard assessments of HCFs, and using the findings to develop, implement, and monitor improvement plans to prevent the spread of infectious diseases; and exploring new technologies and innovations to improve infrastructure, reduce costs, and enhance service delivery.
The Sections of the Guidelines specifically outline the services that need to be developed and implemented in Healthcare Facilities, and include: strategic plan for implementing WASH in healthcare facilities; establishment of WASH teams in healthcare facilities; water supply in healthcare facilities; sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities; healthcare waste management; environmental cleaning in healthcare facilities.