In Study Session 1, you have learned that:

• WASH is an abbreviation that stands for water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
• Before the term WASH was used there had been other terms used, but mostly the ‘H’ element was missed.
• Faecal-oral diseases are transmitted through various routes that transmit infection from faeces to the mouth of the next host, via food, fluids, fingers, flies and fields or floors. These routes are commonly depicted in the F diagram. The interventions that can prevent or block transmission are clean water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
• Combining water supply, sanitation and hygiene as a package of service has been recognised very recently. The three components are complementary and optimal results cannot be guaranteed if they are considered separately.
• The significance of WASH to human health, especially for people living in developing countries such as Ethiopia, is paramount because much sickness and death is directly or indirectly associated with poor WASH services.
• Improved WASH services in schools are essential for school children, particularly girls, to encourage enrolment and attendance.
• The provision of WASH services makes a significant contribution to enhanced economic and social development.
• The One WASH National Programme, abbreviated as OWNP, is a consolidated national programme designed to improve the drinking water supply, sanitation and hygiene services of the Ethiopian people. It has been developed in response to the challenges the WASH sector had been facing before the development of a unified national programme.
• The overall aim of the OWNP is to harmonise and align the WASH sector plan in such a way as to have one plan, one budget, and one reporting system nationwide. This will ensure equity in WASH service provision across the country.