Module 2: Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and WASH
To download presentations in .pdf format or to participate in discussions about this training series, visit READY’s discussion forums (free registration required).
Foundational Sessions
These sessions provide an introduction to IPC and WASH concepts; their application to COVID-19 contexts including points of entry, schools, and humanitarian emergency settings; and the use of behavior centered design. (5 sessions)
Session 1: IPC & WASH in Densely-Populated Areas
In this first session in the IPC & WASH module, Senior Humanitarian WASH Advisor Abraham Varampath introduces key interventions and helpful tips for communities and agencies implementing IPC and WASH activities at the community level to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. This session focuses specifically on activities in densely populated settings, such as camps, informal settlements of internally-displaced persons, slums, and crowded places in the community.
Session 2: IPC and WASH Interventions to Reduce Transmission and Risk of COVID-19 at Points of Entry
The International Organization on Migration (IOM) is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration, and in this session, takes the learner through critical WASH and IPC interventions required to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission at points of entry across borders. IOM, in partnership with READY, has developed this session specifically for the COVID-19 Micro-Training series.
Session 3: WASH and COVID-19 Control in Schools
The WASH in Schools network organised a virtual International Learning Exchange on 25th June 2020. The below video, extracted from this webinar, presents concrete steps that schools, agencies and government departments associated with safe reopening of schools during COVID-19 can take to address IPC and WASH in schools.
Session 4: Improving Hygiene Programs in Emergencies: “Wash’Em”
This session is extracted from a webinar organized by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Save the Children’s Global WASH team, on the importance of integrating behavior change into WASH activities. This video introduces the Wash’Em approach – a process for designing hygiene behaviour change programmes in humanitarian crises, including COVID-19.
Session 5: COVID-19: Applying Behavior Centered Design
This session is extracted from a webinar organized by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Save the Children’s Global WASH team, on the importance of integrating behavior change into WASH activities. This video introduces behavior-centered design, an SBC theory that highlights components of behaviour change during COVID-19.
Expert Interviews
These videos highlight real-life programmatic application of IPC and WASH concepts. Technical experts and program delivery staff give concrete, experience-based examples of IPC and WASH implementation. (6 interviews)
Interview 1: ብዙ ሕዝብ በሚበዛባቸው ቅንብሮች ውስጥ የንጽህና ጣልቃገብነቶችን ለመተግበር ጠቃሚ ምክሮች
Akiki Aniekan is a WASH Coordinator with Save the Children, based in Ogoja, Nigeria. In this interview, Akiki shares the WASH and IPC activities being implemented in Nigerian refugee camps to limit transmission of COVID-19, with particular focus on additional water provision, hand washing installations, improved solid waste management, and remote monitoring of activities through SMART systems.
Interview 2: COVID-19 Adaptations for IPC and WASH in Somalia
Abdiaziz Mohamed Hassan, WASH Manager in Somalia, shares the WASH and IPC activities he and his team are implementing in IDP camps to limit the transmission of COVID-19. This video focuses on additional water provision by water trucking, hygiene kits distribution, and remote monitoring of activities made possible by engaging community hygiene volunteers.
Interview 3: Implementing a COVID-19 Hygiene Promotion Campaign
Save the Children Syria has proactively implemented an intensive COVID-19 prevention programme in camps through hygiene promotion activities called the Hi-5 campaign. In this video, WASH specialist Rawia Youssef presents contextual background and the IPC and WASH initiatives taken to reduce COVID-19 in Syria (and greatly improved child participation in the process).
Interview 4: Preventing Spread of COVID-19 in Camps (IOM)
This video, developed by IOM Somalia, describes how hygiene promotion for COVID-19 prevention is implemented in the congested IDP camps through community engagement and implementation of safe procedures to enhance social distance. This video also highlights community voices sharing their perceptions of COVID-19 and community-level mitigation measures. This example was provided to READY courtesy of IOM.
Interview 5: WASH and IPC Strategies for a Safe Return to School
In this video, GIZ Regional Adviser Nicole Siegmund describes how GIZ has built the capacity of communities in the Southeast Asia region to prepare schools, teachers, and themselves for the safe reopening of school during COVID-19. Nicole outlines specific IPC&WASH procedures, and intersecting community engagement measures, for safe school reopening.
Interview 6: Preparing Schools for Re-Opening with COVID-19 WASH Interventions
Prisca Kalenzi, Project Coordinator for Save the Children Uganda, shares the activities they are implementing with the community to be prepared for a safe return to school. Activities focus on hand hygiene with local, community production of soap, constructing hand-washing facilities, and training health care workers within schools.
Tools and Additional Learning Resources for Module 2: Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
- Global WASH Cluster: COVID-19 Technical Guidance
- WHO: Water, sanitation, hygiene, and waste management for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19
- WHO: Cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID-19
- UN Environment Programme: COVID-19 Waste Management Factsheets
- WHO: Considerations for quarantine of individuals in the context of containment for coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
- WHO: Home care for suspected and mild cases of COVID-19
- WHO: Management of ill travellers at Points of Entry (international airports, seaports, and ground crossings) in the context of COVID-19
- WHO: Advice on the use of masks in the context of COVID-19: interim guidance, 5 June 2020
- Global WASH Cluster: COVID-19 and WASH: Mitigating the socio-economic impacts on the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector
- Sustainable sanitation alliance (susana): Knowledge Map: WASH in Schools and Coronavirus
- Global education cluster: Safe Back to School: A practitioner’s guide
- COVID-19 Hygiene Hub platform
