The Ministry of Health recognizes that access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health facilities is critical in the reduction of diseases, improved occupational health, more efficient health care services, improved staff morale and performance. The micro planning data generated will guide line ministries, local government authorities and development partners to position WASH in the health care facilities agenda within the Water and Health sectors. Additionally, it will support the development of a roadmap for achieving WASH-related sustainable development goals for health institutions.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3 and SDG 6 reinforce the need to ensure adequate WASH services, which will result in a reduction in maternal mortality, ending preventable newborn deaths, and providing quality universal health coverage. The rationale of the WASH guidelines is to document procedures and provide a framework for strategic planning, implementation of functional and effective WASH services in healthcare facilities in Uganda. These guidelines offer a basis for creating the minimum conditions required for providing healthcare services in a healthy environment for healthcare workers, patients and visitors to the healthcare premises. They also serve as a tool for monitoring the performance of WASH in health care facilities.
The guidelines provide a framework for the community health service implementation, detailing its structure and service delivery channels. Additionally, it is introducing and defining an integrated essential community services package which is based on a life course approach. The delineation provided by this guideline will ensure that all stake holders contribute meaningfully to the overarching national community health goals.
Globally, breastfeeding has the potential to prevent about 800 000 deaths among children under five each year if all children 0–23 months were optimally breastfed. Early initiation of breastfeeding could prevent about one fifth of neonatal deaths, but less than half of infants are put to the breast within one hour of birth. WHO recommends that all infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, but actual practice is low (38%). Only about half of children aged 20–23 months are breastfed despite the recommendation that breastfeeding continue for up to 2 years or beyond.
Breastfeeding is an extension of maternal protection that transitions the young infant from the shelter of the in utero environment to life in the ex utero world with its variety of potentially harmful exposures. The promotion, protection, and support of breastfeeding is an exceptionally cost-effective strategy for improving child survival and reducing the burden of childhood disease, particularly in developing countries
