THE capacity of personnel in key sectors to prepare for and respond to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) needs during disasters has been strengthened following a WaSH in Emergency training exercise co-organised by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and UNICEF.

According to a release, the two-day activity, which concluded Thursday, focused on key areas inclusive of standardised WaSH preparedness and response plans, contingency planning, WaSH sector coordination; and identified key WaSH preparedness actions for the main crises in Guyana, among other topics.

In delivering remarks Wednesday to commence the workshop, UNICEF Representative, Irfan Akhtar highlighted the vital role of clean water, basic toilets, and good hygiene practices in giving every child a healthier start in life.

In addition, he emphasised the importance of emergency preparedness, noting that, with climate change, extreme weather events such as floods and droughts have increased in frequency and intensity, further impacting access to WaSH services, particularly for the most vulnerable populations.

He noted, too, that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of WaSH services in preventing and controlling both epidemic and endemic diseases, the release said.

“UNICEF is committed to continue to support our partners, not only in development, but in preparing for, and responding to, emergency situations and reaching the most vulnerable children and families…. This workshop is one step towards strengthening the coordination mechanism and improving our preparedness for any emergency response,” said Akhtar.

Highlighting that WaSH services are usually the first affected in an emergency, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Narine Singh, said that the training would prepare the relevant agencies to respond better.

“In all emergencies, whether they’re man-made or natural disasters, if we can predict them, we can prepare for them, and we can handle them,” he said while urging the participants to apply the knowledge gained to enhance their organisations’ preparedness and response systems.

CDC Director-General (ag), Major Loring, urged investment in WaSH services to ensure everyone has access to safe and potable water and basic sanitation. “WaSH is the first line of defence against COVID-19 and so many other diseases…without WaSH, we are vulnerable,” he observed.

CRITICAL COMPONENT
Abbigail Liverpool, WaSH Coordination Committee Lead, Ministry of Health, noted that WaSH is a critical component of health. It contributes significantly to the burden of diseases of public health importance, resulting in more than 3.3 per cent of the global deaths and 4.6 per cent of the disability-adjusted life years. She further stated that disasters and emergencies exacerbate the impacts of the WaSH-related disease burden.

Noting the Committee’s role as a coordinating body for WaSH activities, Liverpool highlighted that the Committee, which is being strengthened with UNICEF support, identified training as a priority. Other functions of the Committee include supporting national capacity building for emergency preparedness and planning; planning and implementing sector response strategies; and identifying capacity gaps and addressing them during non-emergency. Notably, harmonising approaches and a common strategy for WaSH actors aligned with the disaster response plans, avoiding duplication of resources/activities between the multiple actors when an emergency hits and addressing the gaps to ensure the most vulnerable are assisted, were also identified as priority.

Participants at the workshop included representatives from the CDC, Guyana Water Incorporated, the Health Emergency Operations Centre, the Environmental Health Unit, the Standards and Technical Services Unit (Ministry of Health), the Guyana Red Cross Society, the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown, the Ministry of Housing and Water, the Ministry of Education and UNICEF. Jainil Didaraly, UNICEF Multi-country WaSH in Emergency Preparedness Consultant for the Caribbean, led the interactive sessions while several agencies also made presentations.

In moving forward, partners will elaborate a dedicated WaSH preparedness and response plan for Guyana to be added as an annex of the National Disaster Risk Management Plan and harmonise a WaSH Rapid Assessment Tool for Guyana’s WaSH sector. In addition, the Committee will organise a workshop in the coming months on the contextualisation of emergency SPHERE standards for the Guyana WaSH sector as a result of this impactful training.

WaSH is a programmatic priority for UNICEF in Guyana, with a key goal in the Country Programme for 2022-2026 being to ensure that every child, including adolescents, has access to safe, resilient water, sanitation and hygiene services and lives in a safe and sustainable climate and environment, the release said.