TEHRAN- The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) held a training workshop named "Wash Bottleneck Analysis Tool" (WASHBAT) in Tehran aimed to enhance Iranian children's access to safe and sanitary water throughout the country.

The three-day event was held from August 14 -16 in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy.

WASHBAT, a tool developed by UNICEF and global partner organizations, serves as a valuable approach for assessing and analyzing the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) situation in a country. It helps in identifying challenges, suggesting solutions, prioritizing interventions, and developing an action plan to address these challenges, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on August 24.

During the workshop, over 35 experts from several key ministries and organizations were actively engaged in discussions aimed at collectively harnessing the benefits of the WASHBAT. During the workshop, participants formulated an action plan to address the gaps in the WASH sector. In the next step, UNICEF will support the Ministry of Energy to implement this action plan, the report added.

Providing safe water for children is critical since it affects their health, sanitation, and overall well-being.

UNICEF will continue to strengthen the government's capabilities in effectively managing water and wastewater and enhancing every child’s access to clean and safe water, the report said.

Services for vulnerable families

On August 14, UNICEF announced that it had procured a set of new diagnostic lab equipment to enhance healthcare services for vulnerable children and families in a number of provinces across Iran.

The advanced technological equipment and standard laboratory tools procured upon the request of the Ministry of Health will improve the precision and quality of diagnostic and treatment health services offered to children and their families, particularly for respiratory and gastrointestinal infections.

The equipment was provided to the Ministry of Health reference labs in six selected provinces with a high number of vulnerable populations, namely Sistan-Baluchestan, Kordestan, Yazd, South Khorasan, Hormozgan, and Tehran.

Respiratory and gastrointestinal infections pose significant threats to children resulting in elevated rates of mortality, a situation exacerbated among refugee children with compromised health conditions, the report added.

By facilitating swift disease diagnosis and timely intervention, this initiative aims to curtail these outcomes and simultaneously curb the inappropriate or excessive use of antibiotics.

The construction of new classrooms and new water distribution networks in vulnerable areas were among the projects that were carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Energy.

Moreover, in an effort to ensure access to safe water for children and their families in South Khorasan Province, UNICEF has supported the construction of a new water distribution network in four villages in the Kalate Shab region.

The rehabilitation and construction of WASH facilities in the Torbateh Jam refugee settlement, water supply network rehabilitation in Moshkont village in Sistan-Baluchestan province, execution of the main water feeder line in Niatak refugee settlement, and the establishment of water distribution networks in Golestan province are among other services to name.

MT/MG