WASH 5 Star approach: addressing hygiene behaviour in schools of rural Bangladesh

Every child has basic rights to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). School are essential institutions to children’s welfare, and a place where lifelong behaviours are inculcated. The National Hygiene Baseline Survey [1] and recent WASH bottleneck analysis of Bangladesh [2] reflected the worrying state of hygiene behaviour in schools. WaterAid Bangladesh has developed an approach called ‘WASH 5 Star’ based on the five behavioural domains articulated in the National Hygiene Promotion Strategy (NHPS) 2012 in Bangladesh [3] to raise awareness at the individual, household and institutional level on proper hygiene practices . The WASH 5 Star approach was introduced in 2500 schools in rural Bangladesh and yielded encouraging results within a short span of time. This approach can to be introduced at a large scale to achieve wider health benefits.