WELL Factsheet: HIV, AIDS and water supply sanitation and hygiene

AIDS has become the most devastating global epidemic ever. Yet many secondary diseases from which patients suffer are preventable through better hygiene. When more treatment becomes available, patients can live longer and stay healthier. A nearby and reliable supply of water, including for small-scale production and sanitary latrines, helps those infected stay healthy longer and able to continue work. They reduce the workload for caregivers and help preserve human dignity. Policy makers, programme planners and managers, donors and field workers need to treat HIV as a chronic disease and plan for better water supply, sanitation and hygiene to counteract the cruel impacts on people’s day-to-day health, work, income and dignity.

Produced by WEDC and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for the Department of International Development (DFID) of the UK government (now the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)), this archive collection of WELL factsheets remains relevant. It covers topics ranging from the anaerobic treatment of municipal wastewater through to water quality and safety plans.