Bangladesh
As of 2020, over 58% of Bangladeshis had access to basic hand hygiene (HH) services, a >16% increase from 2015. Bangladesh’s score of 1.41 and 1.58 on the HHAFT Tracker and Assessment’s 4-point scale, respectively, is reflective of the country’s efforts engage stakeholders and develop “Hand Hygiene for All: A Roadmap to Achieve Universal Hand Hygiene in Bangladesh.” Drafted in 2022, the roadmap provides an actionable, financed framework through 2030 for achieving universal HH targets. HH is also being incorporated in the revised National Policy for Water Supply and Sanitation. If Bangladesh can address the primary bottleneck, lack of a standardized M&E framework for collecting and reporting on targets/ indicators and informing course correction, the country has the potential to continue to see double-digit gains once the roadmap’s implementation begins.
Tracker
| Milestone | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Prepare for Action | 2.20 |
| Analyse the Situation / Assess the Need | 0.75 |
| Prioritise Actions | 2.60 |
| Execute Plans | 1.50 |
| Monitor, Evaluate and Course Correct | 0.00 |
| Average | 1.41 |
Bangladesh’s strong scores for preparedness and prioritization of actions is indicative of the engaged process the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives facilitated to create the roadmap. Notably, there is a high level of transparency for HH documentation in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has yet to start implementation of the roadmap. The factor that significantly lowered the average, and will impede Bangladesh’s progress once implementation is underway, is the fact that although there is no monitoring and evaluation or reporting framework in the roadmap, as a result no budget analysis for ongoing needs based on progress, and no plan for course correction. A systematic framework coupled with data collection and analysis will be important for an updated understanding of the HH situation and tracking progress moving forward.
Assessment
| Parameter | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Governance | 2.00 |
| Financing | 2.67 |
| Data and Information | 0.25 |
| Capacity Development | 1.50 |
| Innovation | 1.50 |
| Average | 1.58 |
As a result, in part, of strong governance and multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement, Bangladesh seems to have a strong understanding of real and potential barriers/bottlenecks for the roadmap, and actions needed to address each. For example, a lack of regulations was identified as a barrier to national policy and strategy. Governance can be further strengthened by establishing a coordination mechanism and clearly defining institutional arrangements as do the specific infrastructure needs for different priority settings. A financing strategy is delineated and approved in Bangladesh’s HH roadmap. It includes a cost budget for key areas and covers over 75% of roadmap costs. The next step is identifying and securing financing mechanisms to fully resource the roadmap’s implementation and meet targets, especially given the comprehensiveness of the roadmap. Allocating financing to address the major bottleneck, the limited tools and systematic frameworks to monitor HH status, and lesser bottlenecks like developing a strategy strengthening capacity building strategy or developing a mechanism for private sector engagement will be important.
