Integrating WASH into HIV Interventions and Advancing Improved Sanitation Uptake: WASHplus Kenya End of Project Report

What started as an activity to integrate sanitation and hygiene practices into HIV/AIDS care and support programs has grown over the years into a holistic approach to prevent diarrhea among households at risk. USAID’s WASHplus project helped communities and households in Kenya make the connection between improved sanitation, healthy hygiene habits, and positive outcomes for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV), their families, children, the elderly, and other vulnerable households.

Along the way WASHplus technical support, participatory training, partner engagement, and behavior change efforts yielded valuable lessons for other countries battling to improve sanitation and health outcomes in the context of uncertain funding. Innovation, flexibility, and commitment to working hand-inhand with the government proved to be keys to the project’s success. With the government’s endorsement and adoption of WASHplus’s signature approach, small doable actions are likely to continue to resonate with many audiences long after the WASHplus transition.