Water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and waste management services in health care facilities (HCFs) are key components of infection prevention and control (IPC) practices for assuring patient safety and quality of treatment. Such services are also necessary for fostering an atmosphere that promotes the dignity and human rights of all caregivers, particularly mothers, babies, and children. However, in low- and middle-income countries, the majority of HCFs do not have access to piped water on their premises, lack improved sanitation, do not have adequate facilities for handwashing with soap and water, and lack proper services for managing medical waste. Considering the grave impact of improper WASH services in HCFs, the WHO and UNICEF released a compendium of eight pragmatic measures aimed at enhancing and maintaining WASH services and behaviors in healthcare establishments. The fourth step of the process involves the utilization of the Water and Sanitation for Health Facility Improvement Tool (WASH FIT) and other tools that are based on risk assessment to enhance and uphold infrastructure. WASH FIT aims to improve (i) environmental sustainability and climate resilience; (ii) infection prevention and control; (iii) outbreak response and resilience; (iv) gender, equality, disability, and social inclusion; and (v) quality of care in HCFs. In this regard, by applying WASH FIT, WASH section, UNICEF, Bangladesh, wanted to assist the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to implement a project titled ‘Strengthen WASH infrastructure and services (including IPC) in 16 HCFs’ under the supervision of Upazilla Health Care Operational Plan and Hospital Service Management. A total of 16 HCFs, including 10 Upazilla Health Complexes (UHCs) and 6 District Hospitals, were selected under this project. ITN-BUET, as a partner of the WASH section, UNICEF, Bangladesh, conducted the WASH FIT analysis in all of the 16 HCFs. ITN-BUET team organized 6 district-level sensitization workshops on WASH FIT, formed a WASH FIT team for each of the respective HCFs, and inspected every HCF for a successful WASH FIT analysis. After rigorous assessment, the ITN-BUET team identified the current WASH conditions of those HCFs, ranked the detected problems according to their severity and likelihood following the WASH FIT guideline, and finally prepared a detailed improvement plan for the HCFs based on the WASH FIT analysis.
