On implementing the Global Grant (GG#2016110)- collaboration for ending preventable maternal and newborn mortality in central and western Uganda, it was established that there were dire water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in the health centres intervened in. The national micro planning handbook for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health care facilities (HCFS) in Uganda by Ministry of Health Uganda (2022), details the WASH in HCFs coverage indicators. The following indicators as required by the handbook were not being adequately met in the health centres. (a) Water Access considering both its quantity and quality. (b) Access to sanitation including number of facilities and stance ratio, menstrual hygiene and sanitation infrastructure. (c) Access to hand washing after using a latrine/toilet and hand hygiene. (d) Environmental cleanliness including training and protocols, equipment and supplies. (e) Facility hygiene, waste management including segregation and storage, treatment and disposal. It was therefore established that the dividends expected on the intervention of the GG would not be well achieved unless the WASH situation was also handled. The objectives of this application is therefore to: 1. Improve the access to safe, clean, adequate and portable water at the 3 health centres through the pumping of borehole water to overhead tanks and piping it to the water use utilities 2. Improve the sanitation in these 3 health centres by installing where missing, the sanitary use facilities like handwash basins, toilets and bathrooms at points of care, especially the labour wards, children wards and the maternity wards. 3. To improve the environmental cleanliness of the health centres (of its equipment, supplies and facility cleanliness) by developing standard operating procedures for infection prevention and control (IPC) in these 3 health centres. 4. To construct waste management equipment like incinerators and placenta pits. Where they exist to ensure their functionality and proper use. 5. To improve the waste management regimes of waste (including medical waste and other wastes) by training the health care workers how to safely segregate waste, treat it or dispose of it appropriately. 6. Improving community hygiene knowledge, behaviors, and practices that help prevent the spread of diseases and prevent maternal and child mortality.
