A guide to the life cycle costing process for water, sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities
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Life cycle costing for water, sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities is a way to thoroughly identify and analyse all the costs of installing, delivering and sustaining these services and behaviours.
This guidance document provides a comprehensive resource to support facilitators during life cycle costing training sessions. It is a hands-on manual for district government officials who use life cycle costing to plan for water, sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities in their districts.
We provide government, partners and stakeholders with support on life cycle costing to improve planning and budgeting. This approach makes it possible for national and sub-national governments to strengthen and improve existing planning and budgeting processes for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities.
The approach also provides a way to:
- Break down the costs involved and plan for when they will apply
- Highlight the often-forgotten costs of sustaining services like replacing assets at the end of their life or involving disability experts to assess the accessibility of services
- Generate clear evidence of budget requirements for advocacy and transparency
- Identify finance gaps by comparing life cycle costs with existing budget lines
- Calculate and compare scenarios of long-term costs based on different technology types or years of installation to make better decisions. Using automatic costing model tools can make this easier.
Overall, life cycle costing for WASH in healthcare facilities can help to address service gaps and improve the sustainability of services. This guidance document is designed to support us, our partners, and governments to implement the life cycle costing process for effective WASH planning in healthcare facilities.
Download the life cycle costing tool (XLSX) Download the guidance to using the tool (PDF)In addition to this guidance, the mWater survey tool can help healthcare facilities to assess their water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and inform a life cycle costing process. Please note: you will need to register for free and login to the mWater portal to view the survey.
Top image: Sheila Nangwenya is head nurse at the Sinde Clinic in Zambia, March 2022.
