Harnessing the Power of WASH in the Fight Against NTDs

Written by Yael Velleman 

While in Uganda last week, I had the unique opportunity to sit down with the Ugandan Ministry of Health’s National Program Officer for Trachoma Control, Gilbert Baayenda. Trachoma is a devastating bacterial infection and the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. It is one of 20 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) that cause extreme pain, disability and even death. Yet NTDs are preventable. They are diseases of poverty and marginalization that affect over one billion people across 149 countries globally. 

Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is essential for the prevention, treatment and care of NTDs. Recognizing this, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the NTD NGO Network (NNN) developed, “WASH and health working together: A ‘how-to’ guide for Neglected Tropical Disease programmes,” the first step-by-step guide for building successful WASH and NTD partnerships. Since its launch last year on what is now World NTD Day, the toolkit has been utilized in a number of countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, including Uganda. As the lead on collaboration with the WASH sector on behalf of Uganda’s National NTD Control Program, Gilbert has championed greater coordination between WASH and NTD partners, and is now in the process of adapting the innovative WHO and NNN toolkit to meet national and district-level needs.

What motivates you, as a healthcare professional, to be a WASH champion? 

GB: I have lived and worked at the community and sub-national level for about 15 years and have seen what it means to have access to water and sanitation. I’ve worked in nomadic communities where WASH is non-existent – where there is no safe water, no latrine, no hygiene facilities, and water is scarce. Even where we believe that access is relatively good, we hear communities complain that there is only one water source and they must travel far to access it. 

What motivates me is the decisions we make and their impact on the community. If even one family that currently has difficulties in access can say that the WASH problem has been resolved, then I would be relieved. If we solve half of the cases of disease within the next couple of years, I would be motivated to scale up to as many homes as we can get to.