WASH improvement challenges in preschools in Eastern India

Background Adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are essential to sustain healthy living. Providing WASH in any working facility, like hospitals and educational and non-educational institutions, helps prevent infections and the spread of disease and protects the stakeholders and the community from various infectious diseases. According to the 2030 vision for WASH in Schools agenda for Sustainable Development Goal, governments must work on universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water. Methods This cross-sectional study assessed the WASH status of all the Anganwadi centers (AWCs)/Indian preschools and interviewed all the Anganwadi workers working in those centers using a semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire developed by modifying the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar assessment questionnaire. It collected data on the availability and gaps in the WASH infrastructure at the Anganwadi centers and the training needs of the Anganwadi workers using the epi-collect-5 digital platform. Results In the present survey, 58.3% of the AWCs run in government buildings. A daily cleaning schedule was not followed in 68.2% of the AWCs. An improved source of drinking water was available in 83.7% of the AWCs. In more than 86% of the AWCs, there were either no toilets available or available toilets that were not child-friendly. Over 90% of the AWCs had no handwashing facility for the kids to use after toilet use or before eating the hot cooked food served. More than 70% of the Anganwadi workers need to be sensitized or trained related to WASH. Conclusion Infrastructure improvement needs to be done, such as constructing child-friendly toilets or modifying existing toilets into child-friendly ones. Once the department's human resources are sensitized about the importance of WASH through on-job training, they can be asked to supervise the kids' hand hygiene practices. In the long run, all these will lead to a decrease in health-related issues due to lack of sanitation and improve the health and learning ability of the kids.