COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response: WASH and Infection Prevention and Control in Health Care Facilities

This guidance note is for UNICEF Regional and Country Office WASH staff to help them in their preparedness and response to the current COVID-19 global pandemic. It provides an overview of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and its intersection with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). It also provides key actions that UNICEF staff can implement to help prevent infection and its spread in health care facilities (HCFs) - that is from human to human- among health care workers and patients and by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. WASH, including waste management and environmental cleaning are all important for IPC.