{"id":31848,"key":"WASH","title":"WASH","latest":{"id":1247733,"timestamp":"2026-05-13T16:48:39Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"'''WASH''', used in [[aid]] and [[international development]] programs, refers to \"[[Water]], [[Sanitation]] and [[Hygiene]],\" as means of improving [[public health]]. The term has been used in particular for a water, sanitation and hygiene advocacy campaign initiated by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council. Access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and proper hygiene education are core components of effective [[public health]] programs, and reduce illness and death from disease. They also impact [[poverty reduction]] and socio-economic development.\n\nDeficiencies in each area overlap strongly in their impact, and so to achieve a strong impact on [[public health]], they are often addressed together.\n\n== Technologies in WASH programs ==\n\n* [[Composting toilets]] are a very common [[WASH]] system aiming to give better health to communities than they have with [[open defecation]] and with less of the problems sometimes associated with a [[single pit latrine]], which may leak exposing [[groundwater]] and drinking [[water]] to harmful microbes which cause illness.\n\n== See also ==\n\n* [[WatSan]] (\"'''Wa'''ter and '''San'''itation,\" used in aid and development contexts.)\n\n== External links ==\n\n* [http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646cef.html Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)] - UNHCR website\n* [http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/ Global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Home - Healthy Water] - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n}}\n\n[[Category:Water treatment]]\n[[Category:Hygiene]]\n[[Category:Sanitation]]"}