Aligning WASH Functions Without Tension for Disease Outbreaks: Seeking Leadership Equilibrium for WASH Functions

Abstract

WASH is a global acronym, and its’ Functions (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) are usually superimposed on the traditional emergency or disaster management phases of traditional public health operations for a disease outbreak. This imposition can create tension with the respective leadership hierarchies. WASH alone can quickly generate, unintentionally, negative and unproductive discourse among senior officials responsible for response and recovery – streaming down the chain of command to first responders, placing victims and survivors at unexpected and added risk. Our presentation will focus on the origins of such tension, illuminating with examples of lessons learned. End game of our presentation is envisioning a new pathway to set up a “WASH leadership equilibrium,” an hoc concept created to mitigate latent unproductive tension and useless rhetoric when implementing a WASH Program for a disease outbreak. By design, this concept is a real-world retrospective of the latent tension between the traditional roles of disaster management vs public health over implementing the requisite WASH Functions to mitigate a disease outbreak. Two distinct events are presented with learning examples to challenge the Leaders: > 2010 Devasting Earthquake in Haiti. > 2015 Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone. A path to “leadership equilibrium” for WASH Functions, based on firsthand experience, is offered for Leader participation. An appreciation for the tension is rationalized by reviewing respective missions of disaster management and public health. Neither is appointed as master guardian of WASH Functions – unambiguously; hence awakening of latent tension between disaster management vs public health for a disease outbreak. Evolution of the tension and its resolution await with recognizing that WASH is not in the domain of disaster management nor public health – yet it serves both.