Water Sanitation and Hygiene in Emergencies (WASH)

In any humanitarian crisis, communities need access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene.

Waterborne diseases are major killers in disasters and complex emergencies, where large populations are displaced and/or moving or where local water infrastructure has been destroyed by an earthquake, typhoon or bombing. Effective intervention can reduce the spread of disease, alleviate suffering and ultimately save lives. When local emergency response workers understand how to apply basic Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) strategies, more lives can be saved. This course introduces participants to the WASH sector in emergencies and the international SPHERE standards that apply as well as how the sector is impacted and supported by other sectors in an international emergency operation.

Degree of Difficulty

This is a seven day intensive residential course that includes both indoor and outdoor activities so please ensure you are fit and well to gain the most from your training experience.

This highly practical course provides an overview of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in humanitarian emergency operations. The course equips and refreshes individuals with the background and knowledge to apply WASH skills through a combination of theory, practical exercises, scenarios and simulations.

Who is this course for?

This course is an ideal introduction to public health engineering in emergencies for aid and humanitarian workers and volunteers of all disciplines, levels and experience. It suits environmental and public health engineers and particularly those whose technical skills are more oriented toward large-scale urban systems, who want to adapt their skills to humanitarian emergency work; public and environmental health specialists who would be involved in emergency responses in Australia and the region would also benefit as well as anyone who has already worked or volunteered in emergency relief and wants to improve or learn new public health engineering skills.

The course is in English and a reasonable proficiency is required for by participants.

Aims and Objectives

The purpose of this course is to introduce participants to the concepts of public health engineering and environmental health in emergencies, standard equipment used in the field and the basics of WASH cluster coordination.

Register for this course: https://redraustralia.secure.force.com/web/courseregistrationform

Enquire about this course: https://www.redr.org.au/contact-us/?SelectedVal=Training