Integrated Approach to HIV and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Southern Africa

This report documents findings of a rapid assessment on existing implementation linkages between HIV responses on one hand, and WASH on the other, in four southern African countries: Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zambia.

• Seventy percent of the people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the world come from sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013, there were 23.7 million PLHIV in southern Africa. Tweet
• There are 748 million people in the world that still lack access to improved drinking water sources, and 2.5 billion are without access to basic sanitation. Tweet
• The main stumbling block to WASH and HIV integration is inadequate national integration policies, guidelines, and frameworks. Tweet
• At the country level, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Zambia have incorporated some WASH and HIV integration provisions in prevailing policies, but this is not the case in Mozambique. Tweet
• Lesotho has clearer policies in terms of provisions for HIV and WASH integration compared to other countries. More work, particularly on the HIV side, needs to be done in Zambia, Swaziland, and Mozambique in that order. Tweet
• There is limited coordination between WASH and HIV sectors, and unavailability of funding for both WASH and HIV activities makes these linkages difficult. Tweet