Reliable access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) protects lives during the pandemic, and provides a foundation for economic recovery while preventing new infections. USAID is helping to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on water and sanitation systems, protect progress, and support speed recovery. During this global pandemic, the Globalwaters.org team will share the latest resources from USAID and select sectors that cover COVID-19 and WASH.

USAID Programming Guidance

• USAID Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH): Strategic Approach to COVID-19 Response. USAID, April 2020. This document provides a comprehensive overview of USAID's strategic approaches to WASH within the context of COVID-19 across health, emergency, and longer term recovery programming.
• USAID Community Meeting on COVID 19’s Impacts on Global WASH. USAID, April 23, 2020. This webinar includes discussions with leaders from USAID’s Water Leadership Council on global WASH–specific challenges, impacts, and responses.
• USAID Responding to COVID-19’s Impact on Resilience and Food Security. USAID, May 2020. The USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security created this page to provide information and resources related to USAID’s long-term food security and nutrition response through Feed the Future, and its work to ensure safe and sustainable access to WASH through Water for the World.
• COVID-19 Guidance to Implementing Partners. USAID, May 2020. USAID prioritizes the safety and health of its global workforce as part of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The guidance on this page is a general reference for USAID’s implementing partners to help ensure that USAID can continue its life-saving mission across the world.
• USAID Food for Peace and ODFA Interim Guidance for Applicants Engaging in COVID-19 Humanitarian Response. USAID, May 2020. This document provides interim guidance and basic recommended approaches for applicants requesting support for COVID-19 response activities.

Other USAID Resources

• Water for the World’s Response to COVID-19. USAID, May 2020. USAID is taking proactive action by adapting ongoing Water for the World programs to provide assistance. At the same time, USAID is supporting water and sanitation systems to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19, protect progress, and speed recovery.
• Water Currents: WASH & COVID-19 Update – May 14, 2020. USAID Water Team. This issue contains recent studies and resources on COVID-19 and handwashing, menstrual hygiene management, humanitarian issues, and other topics.
• Water Currents: WASH and COVID-19 – March 26, 2020. USAID Water Team. This special issue contains links to key websites as well as studies and reports that discuss the WASH–related aspects of COVID-19.

Select Global WASH Sector Resources

• COVID 19 Hygiene Hub. WASH’EM/London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine/CAWST. The COVID-19 Hygiene Hub is a free service that supports actors in low- and middle-income countries to rapidly design evidence-based hygiene interventions to combat the coronavirus.
• Coronavirus Global Health Emergency. UN-Water. This webpage brings together water- and sanitation-related information, resources, and guidance from UN-Water members and partners.
• COVID Specific Handwashing Resources. Global Handwashing Partnership (GWP). GWP has created a living compilation of resources related to WASH and COVID-19.
• Sanitation and Water for All: COVID-19 and WASH. Sanitation and Water for All (SWA). SWA has compiled different resources and tools around COVID-19 and WASH, including documents, videos, social media materials on public health, webinar recordings. It also created a page focusing on high-level messaging on links between access to WASH and COVID response.
• Wash’Em COVID-19 Resources. Wash’Em. This website features links to courses, webinars, reports, and additional resources to help local-level actors respond rapidly and effectively to the pandemic.
• WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) and COVID-19. World Bank. To respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Water Global Practice has developed a menu of solutions, including concrete actions to help our client governments in their preparedness and emergency response, and future resilience to similar epidemics.
• COVID-19 WASH Resources. Global WASH Cluster (GWC). The GWC is primarily collecting key country resources from National WASH Humanitarian Coordination Platforms as well as key technical guidance documents, links to trainings and webinars to facilitate access for WASH staff and practitioners.