General Description

This kit has been adapted from the OCHA Yemen WASH Hygiene kit. 

It contains basic supplies to support families in meeting their hygiene needs in settings affected by a humanitarian emergency.

Replenishment guidance

Following initial distribution of basic hygiene kits within an emergency context, it is important to consider how its individual components will be replenished over time and in keeping with local needs.

For example, the OCHA guidance for this kit suggests distributing additional soap bars to families on a monthly basis during the initial stage of an emergency response. It also stipulates that if access and/or community engagement is challenging then three monthly replenishment intervals could be considered (OCHA, 2019a).

Monthly replenishment intervals are also recommended for washing powder. However as a non-consumable item, water containers are likely to require less frequent replenishment, for example, once every six months.

It is important to note however that these recommendations can only act as a rough guideline. Decision making on the scheduling of component replenishment should be directly informed by the nature of specific emergency contexts and the needs of the local population. 

Context of use

This kit of basic hygiene provisions is designed for use in humanitarian or under-resourced contexts, e.g., in areas affected by conflict or disaster, and for populations currently living in camp or host settings, and reception centres.

Such kits are intended to act as part of the initial emergency response to urgent needs in humanitarian contexts prior to longer term local solutions being established.

Scaling

This kit has been designed to provide sufficient basic hygiene supplies for a family of seven. Its duration of use is likely to vary depending on local hygiene practices and the accessibility of other essential resources such as water. 

Where possible, agencies involved in the procurement and/or distribution of NFI supplies within a humanitarian setting should attempt to ascertain the average duration of any emergency supply kit used within the local context. This information can then be used to inform future decisions on replenishment scheduling as discussed above.

It should also be noted that the contents of this kit can be customized according to the needs of the target population. For example, in some settings additional items such as baby WASH supplies may be required (OCHA, 2019b)

Sources

OCHA (2019a) Yemen WASH Cluster Basic Hygiene Kit

OCHA (2019b) Standard Hygiene Kit guidance

Solution creators

This solution was developed by Stevie-Jade Beeby with contributions from Claire Barnhoorn and Anuradha Dissanayake.