Advancing health, learning and participation through WASH in schools in Africa

In 2011, estimates show that only 52% of the schools in Africa had access to water and 48% of schools had access to sanitation based on the UNICEF country office annual reports from 51 countries in Africa. Fulfilling every child's right to water, sanitation and hygiene education remains a major challenge for policymakers, school administrators and communities in many countries. The evidence on the impact of WASH in Schools (WinS) programming coming out of Africa demonstrates the real need for improving access to water and sanitation in schools and encouraging habitual (life-long) hygiene behaviours among school children. To focus and improve the situation of access to WinS in Africa this chapter outlines three key actions which were suggested during Africasan.