Child-centred methods for school-based WASH interventions: co-creating sanitation research and interventions for and with children

In 2020, the Joint Monitoring Programme of the WHO and UNICEF reported that, although 69 per cent of educational settings had basic improved drinking water, sanitation and hygiene provision lagged behind this figure (UNICEF/WHO, 2020). This shortcoming is pronounced in rural settings, where only 44 per cent of schools have basic sanitation services (improved single-sex operational facilities), and 34 per cent have basic hygiene services (handwashing facilities with soap and water). The picture in South Asia is more encouraging, but subnational data reveals a gap in provision between rural and urban settings, with just over 50 per cent of schools in rural India enjoying basic hygiene facilities, and 62 per cent with basic sanitation provision (ibid: 49).