Policy and provision of WASH in schools for children with disabilities: A case study in Malawi and Uganda

Abstract

There is a growing body of evidence on the correlation between improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools and positive health and educational outcomes for students. Similar evidence on the impact of school WASH facilities on health, enrolment and absence for children with disabilities is not available. The limited data have revealed that children with disabilities are burdened by poor WASH in schools access, and even prevented from attending school due to inaccessible WASH facilities. We conducted two case studies of policy and provision of school WASH services for children with disabilities in Uganda and Malawi. We found a robust policy environment in Uganda and Malawi with policies and guidelines in place for WASH in schools for children with disabilities. However, provision of services and facilities are low and focused primarily on sanitation.

Keywords:

• children with disabilities
• hygiene
• inclusive education
• sanitation
• WASH in schools

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Chander Badloe and Margot O'Sullivan from UNICEF Uganda, and John Pinfold from UNICEF Malawi for their technical support and Murat Sahin from UNICEF headquarters for his contributions to this project. We would also like to thank Sara Bresee for her editing assistance.