Water, sanitation, hygiene, environmental cleaning and waste management in health care facilities: 2023 data update and special focus on primary health care

Overview

This data update assesses the coverage of WASH services (water, sanitation, hygiene, environmental cleaning and health care waste management) in health care facilities. There were enough national data to make global estimates for basic water and hygiene services in 2022, with 78% and 57% of health care facilities meeting basic service levels. Due to ageing data, such estimates could not be produced for 2023, the main reference year of the report. Instead, the report focuses on the situation in the 60 countries, areas and territories categorized by OECD as ‘fragile contexts’, where populations are particularly vulnerable and WASH service coverage is relatively poor.

The report has a special focus on primary health care (PHC), and explores how adopting the PHC approach is critical to improving WASH services, and how WASH is essential to advancing PHC.