Key terms
- Hygiene
- is the practice of keeping persons and public facilities, and their environments, clean, especially in order to prevent illness or the spread of disease.
- Hygiene promotion
- supports behaviour and community engagement and action to reduce the risk of disease. A well-integrated hygiene promotion component, adapted to local culture and contextual needs, is vital to the success of any WASH package.
- Water supply
- is the provision of water for personal and household needs. It is to be distinguished from irrigation and water for industrial use. In certain specific situations and for limited periods of time, it may include water for livestock. The minimum quantity of safe water to be provided in an emergency varies according to context. It ranges from 5 to 50 litres (or more) per capita per day. Water may be supplied by public utilities, formal or informal commercial organizations, community-based organizations or individuals. Management arrangements also vary widely according to the context.
- Sanitation
- definitions may differ. A narrow definition refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human faeces and urine and their processing. A wider definition refers also to the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection, wastewater disposal and drainage.
- Excreta management
- refers to the safe disposal of excreta, in a manner that does not contaminate the environment, water, food or hands. The safe disposal of human faeces is one of the principal ways of breaking the faecal-oral disease transmission cycle. Defecation practices are highly culture-dependant.
- Solid waste management
- refers to the process of collecting and treating solid waste. Normally managed by public authorities, solid waste collection and disposal systems may be disrupted in an emergency, requiring the intervention of humanitarian actors.
- Vector control
- refers to any action taken to limit or eradicate animals and insects (collectively called vectors) that transmit disease pathogens. Where no effective cure for a disease has been found (true of the Zika virus, West Nile virus and Dengue fever), vector control is the only way to protect human populations. It is achieved through a range of interventions. Environmental controls remove or reduce physical spaces where vectors can easily breed (such as stagnant water, solid waste, food waste and rubble) or reduce contact with vectors (for example, by distributing mosquito nets). Chemical controls disperse chemical agents (by spraying or fumigation) that kill, repel or disrupt the reproduction cycle of vectors. In humanitarian action, environmental control is a joint effort of the WASH and shelter sectors, while chemical control (and occasionally the distribution of mosquito nets) is often coordinated by the health sector.
- Incontinence
- occurs when a person cannot control the flow of their urine or faeces. It is a complex health and social concern that can lead to stigma, social isolation, stress, and an inability to access services, education and work opportunities. It is often not reported but a wide range of people live with degrees of incontinence.
WASH interacts with most other humanitarian sectors. Its activities can directly improve the protection and health of personswith disabilities as well as affected populations. Failures of sanitation and hygiene, equally, pose significant risks toboth protection and health.