Clean water where the healing happens: Turkmenistan brings the WHO/UNICEF toolkit to its clinics

A hospital cannot heal safely without clean water, working sanitation and basic hygiene — and Turkmenistan is now systematically upgrading all three. From 27 to 29 October in Ashgabat, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and WHO's country office worked with the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry on national priorities for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health-care facilities, and started pilot use of WASH FIT, the WHO/UNICEF improvement tool that helps clinics assess risks, fix the worst problems first and keep checking. The work builds on a 2023–24 national assessment that mapped exactly where facilities fall short — sanitation, waste, maintenance, training and monitoring — so the fixes can be targeted rather than guessed at.

SDG 6 · Clean water and sanitation — Mechanism: institutional program