Uganda HIV and WASH Integration Resources

Poor water, sanitation and hygiene practices exert a heavy toll on people living with HIV/AIDS, especially in terms of vulnerability to opportunistic infections and loss of dignity. The additional bouts of diarrhea and opportunistic infections experienced by HIV positive individuals also increase the work load for their caregivers. Research has shown that improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices, including treating, safely transporting, storing and serving drinking water; safe handling and disposal of feces; safe handling and disposal of menstrual blood; and hand washing with soap (or ash) and water can reduce the rates of diarrhea and opportunistic infections.
HIP is currently implementing activities to address poor WASH practices in homes of HIV positive individuals, including addressing the urgent need for improved WASH practices in home-based care (HBC). Although HBC providers receive training in many aspects of care and support at the household level, including training in the principles of basic WASH, little emphasis and/or detailed information has been given about how HBC providers can help household members to overcome, or change, the many daily obstacles to improved WASH behaviors in the home.
To address this gap in Uganda, HIP, in partnership with Plan Uganda, the Government of Uganda, and the Uganda Water and Sanitation Network (UWASNET), have developed training and outreach worker materials that are based on the principle that WASH practices in the household can be improved - that is, new practices can be adopted and current practices can be modified or changed in small ways that are acceptable/feasible to the householder and that can be carried out by households.
The materials include a:
• Training Manual
• Participant’s Guide
• Counseling Cards (pictorially based)
• Assessment Tool (pictorially based)