Md. Toufique Hossain & Abu Aslam :
During all infectious disease outbreaks including coronavirus, clean water, sanitation, and hygienic conditions are critical for protecting human health. Resilience water, sanitation and hygiene management that are cost-effective as well as prompt sanitation services for all especially for school going kids, women, elderly people, crowded place, marketplaces, institutions or even households including the healthcare systems can help prevent human-to-human transmission of Covid infection.
According to the WASH in Health Care Facilities (HCFs) – Global Baseline Report (2019), one out of every four HCFs lacks basic water service (affecting over 900 million people), one out of every five HCFs lacks sanitation service (affecting over 1.5 billion people), and one out of every six HCFs lack hygiene service. There is no substitute for healthy and clean water, just as masks and vaccines are vital in preventing the coronavirus. How critical is clean water to the community? Especially for COVID -19 instances.
While Bangladesh’s upper middle class is aware of the importance of clean drinking water and proper sanitation, there are gaps in access to resilient wash services in both rural and slum areas. As a developing country status, Bangladesh now faces a multidimensional challenge, one of which is to ensure development services for disadvantaged people. It is surely possible to prevent infectious diseases through safe water facility alongside to protect against corona virus.
Although there is no evidence or study to show that coronavirus is spread through water and sanitation, it is possible to reduce various health risks if safe water use is ensured in the community.
According to a UN Habitat study on the COVID-19 pandemic, poor people are disproportionately affected. So, we should consider how to improve hand-washing habits, food safety, and access to clean water for the country’s most disadvantaged citizens.
Water points and wastewater management facilities in remote places, schools, and other vulnerable areas should be prioritized by stakeholders in order to provide clean water on demand in urban and rural areas.
Finally, SDG 6 (Global Goal 6) is to ensure that all people have access to safe drinking water and sanitation. We will need both domestic and international collaboration to promote better WASH economics for long-term health management.
(Toufique Hossain is a finance & economics strategist and Abu Aslam is a Senior Program Manager at water.org.)
