WASH FIT portal

New mother in Mali – Photo credit Ilvy Njiokiktjien

What is WASH FIT?

WASH FIT (the Water and Sanitation for Health Facility Improvement Tool) is a risk-based management tool for health care facilities, covering key aspects of water, sanitation, hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, health care waste management and selected aspects of energy, building and facility management.

What type of facilities can use WASH FIT?

• Small primary health care facilities in lower-resource settings (e.g. health centres, health posts).
• Larger facilities (e.g. district hospitals).
• Middle-income settings where standards are yet to be met.
• Emergency settings, including temporary facilities in camps.

Where has WASH FIT been used?

To date, WASH FIT has been used in over 40 countries. These include:

Benin, Bhutan, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Comoros, DRC, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Read a selection of WASH FIT case studies here.

What does the latest version cover?

The latest version has an emphasis on climate, gender equality and inclusion, and prevention (WASH in support of prevention of all avoidable infections in health care) with linkages to infection prevention, antimicrobial resistance and quality of care.

WASH FIT:

Provides a framework to develop, monitor and continuously implement an infrastructure improvement plan and prioritize specific WASH actions;
Guides the planning and implementation of WASH improvements as part of wider quality improvement efforts to meet local, national and/or global standards, and;
Facilitates multi-sectoral solutions by bringing together all those who share responsibility for providing WASH services, including legislators/policymakers, district health officers, hospital administrators, water engineers, environment and climate specialists.

WHO and UNICEF are collecting information on where, how and in how many facilities the tool is being used. Are you using WASH FIT? If so, we would like to hear from you, our form is coming soon.