Emergency WASH Public Health Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends WASH Officers and Coordinators, Public Health Officers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-WS-029

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with humanitarian operations, public health programmes, water supply, sanitation, hygiene promotion or emergency management.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Emergency WASH teams must make rapid public-health decisions when water systems fail, sanitation is inadequate, population density increases and diarrhoeal disease risks rise. Poor assumptions about water quantity, contamination pathways, hygiene practices or access can worsen illness, expose women and children to protection risks, and divert scarce resources from the highest-priority controls. Staff need a disciplined way to assess risks, select technically appropriate responses, monitor service quality and adapt when conditions change.

This course develops the practical public-health judgement required to design and manage emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services. Participants examine faecal–oral disease transmission, outbreak control, rapid WASH assessments, water-source selection, treatment, distribution, excreta management, hygiene promotion and environmental health surveillance. They apply Sphere standards, WHO guidance and risk-based approaches to realistic displacement, flood, urban interruption and cholera-response cases. The course also addresses inclusion, community engagement, coordination, data interpretation and transition from emergency measures to safer medium-term services.

Teaching combines focused technical briefings, facilitated case analysis, group planning tasks, field-style calculations, scenario simulations and structured peer review. Participants work with service data, maps, water-quality results, outbreak indicators and operational constraints similar to those faced by humanitarian agencies, public authorities and implementing partners. Each participant leaves with an emergency WASH public-health action pack containing assessment tools, decision models, monitoring formats and a personal application plan for their role.

The course is suited to professionals who already work in humanitarian response, public health, engineering, programme delivery or government emergency management and need stronger WASH-specific public-health capability.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct a rapid WASH public-health risk assessment using hazard, exposure and vulnerability evidence
  • Prioritise emergency WASH interventions using Sphere standards, outbreak data and population needs
  • Calculate emergency water supply requirements, storage capacity and distribution-system demand
  • Interpret field water-quality results and select proportionate treatment and disinfection controls
  • Design excreta-management arrangements that reduce faecal–oral disease transmission and protection risks
  • Develop hygiene-promotion strategies using formative enquiry, barrier analysis and community feedback
  • Build a WASH monitoring plan with indicators, thresholds, sampling methods and reporting routines
  • Produce an emergency WASH public-health action plan for a defined response scenario

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible WASH priorities during outbreaks, displacement and infrastructure failure
  • Interpret operational data before escalating water, sanitation or hygiene interventions
  • Communicate public-health risks clearly with engineers, health teams and community representatives
  • Use recognised standards to justify service levels and resource requests
  • Prepare for WASH coordination, technical advisory and emergency response roles

For your organisation

  • Faster identification of WASH conditions likely to drive diarrhoeal disease and outbreaks
  • More defensible technical decisions on water supply, sanitation and hygiene investments
  • Improved alignment between WASH activities, health surveillance and outbreak response
  • Stronger monitoring of service quality, residual chlorine, access and user safety
  • Better handover documentation from immediate relief services to recovery teams

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify priority WASH-related public-health risks and select appropriate initial controls.

  • Public-health pathways linking water, sanitation, hygiene, vectors and disease transmission
  • F-diagram used to identify faecal–oral transmission barriers during displacement
  • Mortality, morbidity and malnutrition indicators interpreted for WASH prioritisation
  • Risk assessment distinguishes immediate hazards from medium-term public-health threats
  • Outbreak thresholds trigger investigation, notification and targeted WASH control measures
  • Protection, gender and disability risks integrated into service decisions
  • Accountability to affected people informs safe, acceptable WASH services

Participants can plan and interpret a rapid assessment that directs emergency WASH priorities.

  • Rapid assessment design combines secondary data, observation, interviews and service mapping
  • Population figures disaggregated by age, sex, disability and settlement location
  • Water-point inspections identify source condition, queueing, access and contamination hazards
  • Sanitation mapping records defecation practices, facility coverage and sludge pathways
  • Key informant interviews test reported access, safety, affordability and acceptance
  • Problem trees distinguish root causes from visible WASH service failures
  • Prioritisation matrix ranks actions by severity, scale, feasibility and urgency

Participants can calculate and plan emergency water services from source to household use.

  • Sphere water quantity standards applied to household and institutional demand
  • Demand calculations include drinking, cooking, hygiene, cleaning and health facilities
  • Source selection compares yield, water quality, security, ownership and reliability
  • Water trucking plans specify volumes, routes, turnaround times and storage
  • Storage sizing accounts for peak demand, delivery schedules and contingency reserves
  • Distribution layouts reduce queue times, collection burdens and protection concerns
  • Operation plans define staffing, fuel, spare parts and supplier responsibilities

Participants can select, monitor and communicate water treatment controls for emergency settings.

  • Sanitary inspections identify contamination risks at sources, tanks and collection points
  • Turbidity, pH and free residual chlorine interpreted using field tests
  • Chlorination calculations determine dose, contact time and residual targets
  • Household water treatment options assessed for effectiveness, acceptance and supply continuity
  • Safe water-chain controls protect collection containers, transport and household storage
  • Water-quality sampling plans define locations, frequency, parameters and corrective actions
  • Incident procedures address failed residual chlorine, contamination reports and complaints

Participants can design sanitation services that manage excreta safely and reduce exposure risks.

  • Sanitation options matched to soil, groundwater, density, flooding and tenure
  • Communal latrine ratios calculated against population, use patterns and cleaning capacity
  • Facility siting protects water sources, privacy, access and emergency routes
  • Accessible designs address mobility, lighting, handrails, doors and child safety
  • Faecal sludge service chains cover containment, emptying, transport, treatment and disposal
  • Temporary sanitation upgrades planned as settlement density and occupancy change
  • Cleaning schedules assign materials, staffing, supervision and complaint-response arrangements

Participants can develop hygiene actions based on behavioural evidence and community priorities.

  • Formative enquiry identifies behaviours, motives, constraints and trusted communication channels
  • Barrier analysis distinguishes knowledge gaps from material, social and environmental constraints
  • Critical times for handwashing linked to locally feasible enabling conditions
  • Hygiene kits specified through user consultation, market checks and distribution controls
  • Community feedback mechanisms capture complaints, preferences, rumours and exclusion concerns
  • Risk communication messages address cholera, safe water storage and household treatment
  • Participation approaches include women, adolescents, older people and persons with disabilities

Participants can plan targeted WASH measures that support outbreak prevention and response.

  • Cholera transmission patterns connect case data with priority WASH control measures
  • Case-area targeted interventions focus resources around households, contacts and shared facilities
  • Oral cholera vaccination coordination clarifies complementary WASH public-health actions
  • Health facility WASH reviews address patient flow, cleaning, waste and hand hygiene
  • Outbreak dashboards combine case trends, water tests, service gaps and response coverage
  • Alert investigations verify signals before deploying intensified WASH interventions
  • Preparedness plans define triggers, pre-positioned supplies, roles and communication lines

Participants can establish a WASH monitoring system that supports timely corrective action.

  • Indicator frameworks track access, quantity, quality, use, safety and functionality
  • Baseline values establish realistic service targets and monitoring priorities
  • Sampling methods reduce bias in household interviews and facility inspections
  • Data-quality checks identify missing values, inconsistencies, duplication and implausible results
  • Thresholds trigger corrective action for water quantity, chlorine residual and latrine condition
  • Disaggregation reveals unequal service access by location, gender, age and disability
  • After-action reviews document decisions, outcomes, lessons and required follow-up

Participants can coordinate WASH operations, technical standards and partner accountabilities during response.

  • Sphere standards used to set service objectives and justify deviations
  • WASH Cluster coordination maps partners, coverage gaps, technical decisions and referrals
  • Who-does-what-where matrices clarify operational responsibilities and geographic coverage
  • Bill-of-quantities reviews link technical designs with realistic procurement requirements
  • Partner monitoring checks construction quality, service delivery and safeguarding commitments
  • Operational risk registers track security, supply, weather, access and fraud risks
  • Transition planning defines handover criteria, authority roles and maintenance responsibilities

Participants can produce a time-bound WASH public-health action plan for their operational context.

  • Scenario analysis connects assessment findings with phased response objectives
  • Response plans sequence immediate controls, stabilisation actions and recovery measures
  • Decision logs record assumptions, evidence, approvals and unresolved operational risks
  • Resource plans assign personnel, materials, transport, budgets and technical support
  • Monitoring calendars align field checks, reporting cycles and coordination meetings
  • Escalation protocols define authority for incidents, outbreaks and service failures
  • Personal application plans identify priority changes, stakeholders and first actions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Rapid WASH public-health risk assessment template
  2. Emergency water supply calculation model
  3. Water-quality monitoring and corrective-action checklist
  4. Emergency sanitation service-chain planning template
  5. Outbreak WASH response decision matrix
  6. WASH public-health action plan

Who should attend

  • WASH Officers and Coordinators — need to prioritise safe services during rapid-onset and protracted emergencies
  • Public Health Officers — need to connect disease surveillance with practical WASH control measures
  • Humanitarian Programme Managers — need to review technical choices, risks and delivery priorities
  • Water and Sanitation Engineers — need stronger public-health reasoning for emergency system decisions
  • Government Emergency Health Staff — need to coordinate WASH actions during outbreaks and displacement
  • NGO Field Managers — need to manage partners, resources and service-quality monitoring

Skills and tools covered

WASH risk assessmentOutbreak control planningEmergency water supplySanitation service designHygiene promotionWASH monitoring

Tools and standards

Sphere Handbook, WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, WHO Sanitation Safety Planning, JMP service ladders

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish technical principles, followed by case work based on floods, displacement sites, urban supply interruptions and cholera alerts. Participants review assessment data, calculate water requirements, interpret water-quality results and make prioritisation decisions under operational constraints. Group exercises examine trade-offs between speed, safety, inclusion, cost and community acceptance. Simulations test coordination and outbreak-control decisions. Facilitated reflection and application planning help participants translate the methods into their own emergency responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with humanitarian operations, public health programmes, water supply, sanitation, hygiene promotion or emergency management. At least six months of relevant field, programme or technical support experience is recommended, although direct emergency deployment experience is not essential. Participants should be comfortable reading simple tables, interpreting percentages and discussing operational decisions with technical colleagues. No engineering degree, laboratory qualification, epidemiology specialism or prior knowledge of Sphere standards is required. The course introduces the calculations and technical references needed for the learning activities.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have basic familiarity with humanitarian, public-health, WASH, engineering or emergency-management work. The course does not require an engineering degree or previous deployment experience, but it assumes comfort with operational discussions and simple numerical calculations.

Bring a laptop if possible, along with a calculator and examples of WASH challenges from your work. Course materials are provided, and live online participants need a stable internet connection and access to spreadsheet software.

It is designed for WASH staff, public-health officers, engineers, programme managers, government emergency personnel and NGO field managers. It is particularly useful for professionals who must make or review emergency service decisions.

General public-health courses usually address multiple sectors such as health, nutrition and shelter. This course concentrates on the technical and operational WASH controls that prevent faecal–oral disease transmission, including water treatment, sanitation, hygiene and service monitoring.

Participants use assessment, prioritisation, water-supply, sanitation and monitoring formats that can be adapted to active programmes. The final application plan identifies actions, stakeholders and evidence needed for a current or anticipated response.

The five days contain approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally from 08:30 to 16:30. Time is divided between technical teaching, case analysis, calculations, group decision-making, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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