WaterAid Ghana is reinforcing its leadership in strengthening Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) systems through the Sexual Health and Adolescent Reproductive Education (SHARE) Project, a five-year initiative aimed at improving healthcare access for adolescent girls and young women across Ghana.

The project, which runs from 2021 to 2026, is funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by a consortium comprising Right to Play, FAWE, FHI 360, and WaterAid. It seeks to advance health equity through gender-responsive and youth-centered health services.

At a national stakeholder deliberation held in Ghana’s Eastern Region, WaterAid’s Programme Manager for WASH in Health, Agustina Achigibah, stressed the importance of creating safe and inclusive healthcare spaces for adolescents.

“These spaces are about dignity,” Achigibah said. “They allow adolescents to access sexual and reproductive health services free of stigma, in environments tailored to their privacy and developmental needs.”

Under the project, WaterAid Ghana has rehabilitated eight Adolescent and Youth-Friendly Health Spaces (AYFHS) across four districts in the Upper East Region — Bongo, Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Builsa North, and Kassena-Nankana West. Each facility now includes improved toilets, clean water sources, handwashing stations, and private counseling rooms.

In addition to upgrading infrastructure, WaterAid has prioritized human-centered training and education. Over 100 nurses and community mentors have received training on menstrual hygiene management.

The organisation has also introduced reusable sanitary pad production programs in 25 schools and partnered with local health teams to embed adolescent care within district health systems.

WaterAid’s Senior Programme Manager, Gift Luwe, highlighted that infrastructure alone is not enough to transform healthcare outcomes — reliable data and accountability are key.

“There’s been a longstanding blind spot,” Luwe said. “Many health facilities either lacked the tools or the training to track WASH IPC indicators. Without reliable data, it’s impossible to allocate resources where they are most needed.”

To address these gaps, WaterAid has embedded WASH IPC focal persons in all project districts and strengthened the use of Ghana’s District Health Information Management System (DHIMS) to monitor compliance. Trained district teams are now conducting quarterly audits using digital tools such as KoboCollect and mWater.

The approach is already producing results. Facilities that once lacked basic hygiene amenities now keep regular inventories of soap, disinfectants, and water. Action plans based on the WHO’s WASH FIT (Water and Sanitation for Health Facility Improvement Tool) are guiding local upgrades in water systems and waste management. In Navrongo, for example, district health budgets are being adjusted to prioritize WASH improvements based on audit data.

However, Luwe cautioned that the weakest link remains at the community level, where data systems are often under-resourced.

“If we want national impact,” he said, “we must invest in the subnational — the data managers, the local nurses, the facility heads who hold this work together.”

WaterAid Ghana’s model integrates infrastructure development, adolescent-friendly service delivery, and data-driven governance — all rooted in a principle of dignity and inclusion.

For many girls in rural districts, the difference is already tangible.

“It’s not just about seeing a nurse,” Achigibah explained. “It’s about being seen as a person — in a space where water flows, toilets flush, and no one questions why she came.”

As development partners continue to promote localized, equity-focused approaches, the SHARE Project is proving to be a practical blueprint for health system transformation — especially for those who have been historically overlooked.