WASH and its links to nutrition

May 1, 2020

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A flow diagram illustrating the transmission routes from fecal matter to a person. Arrows connect feces to fluids, fields, floors, flies, fingers, and fomites, which then lead to food and subsequently to a person, indicating potential contamination pathways.

There is strong evidence linking safe WASH to health and nutrition, though nutrition is only one of many development outcomes from investment in WASH services. USAID has identified four recommendations for WASH programming that are likely to have greater impacts on health and nutrition:

– Implement area-wide sanitation interventions that lead to coverage at scale

– Professionalize water service delivery working towards safely managed water services

– Reduce barriers to social and behavior change through aspirational products and services

– Explore ways to interrupt fecal-oral pathways from poor food hygiene, contact with animal feces, and direct soil/feces ingestion

Read the technical brief

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