Promoting healthy hygiene and sanitation practices for people living with HIV and AIDS

摘要

Many life threatening opportunistic infections among people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) arecaused by exposure to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. Diarrhoea affects90 percent of PLHIV and results in significant morbidity and mortality. WASHplus, a five-year USAIDfundedproject, is implementing a WASH-HIV integration program that supports Kenya’s communitystrategy to integrate improved WASH practices into HIV policies and programs using community healthworkers. WASHplus trained over 350 facilitators, including district public health officers specializing inWASH and HIV integration, using a small doable actions approach. These facilitators supportedcommunity health and home-based care workers that worked to promote feasible actions to improveWASH practices among PLHIV. Communities have embraced this concept—adapting toilet seats forPLHIV and the mobility challenged, exploring income generating projects to provide handwashingfacilities to households, and securing additional funding to roll these activities out at the household level.