Access to clean water and safe sanitation is essential to prevent infections, control antimicrobial resistance and ensure safe, quality health care. Yet many health care facilities in the Western Pacific Region – including in Indonesia – still lack basic water and sanitation services.
To support improvements, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed Water and Sanitation Technologies for Health-care Facilities: Selecting options for adoption and scale-up in the Western Pacific Region. Released in 2024, the document provides practical tools to help key stakeholders select appropriate water supply and wastewater treatment technologies based on their local context, needs and capacity.
The guidance includes a decision-support framework that considers environmental, institutional and technical factors; technology factsheets outlining strengths, limitations and suitability under different conditions; and recommendations to improve climate resilience, sustainability and long-term functionality. It is designed for use by health sector planners, engineers and multisectoral assessment teams to guide investments in both new and existing health care facilities.
In Indonesia, where gaps remain in rural and under-resourced settings, the guidance can support implementation of the Environmental Health Action Plan and the Ministry of Health Strategic Plan, which include targets for standard-compliant waste-management and for increasing the percentage of districts with at least 50% of health facilities meeting environmental health requirements. It can also help align infrastructure upgrades with the Sustainable Development Goals and WHO’s Framework for Action on WASH in health-care facilities.
Download Water and Sanitation Technologies for Health-care Facilities: Selecting options for adoption and scale-up in the Western Pacific Region here: Water and sanitation technologies for health-care facilities: selecting options for adoption and scale-up in the Western Pacific Region