In alliance with Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Geneva, Switzerland from 2002 to 2012.

The WASH Campaign was initiated by the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Geneva. PIEDAR was WSSCC's Pakistan WASH Campaign Coordinator from 2002 to 2012.
At the dawn of the 21st Century, some 1.1 billion people on Earth were without access to a safe water supply and over 2.4 billion were without adequate sanitation. In the 2020s, there remains a tremendous backlog with billions still un-served, mostly the poor and marginalized living in squalid, unhealthy environments in the developing world.
The Wash Campaign is a political and social imperative because:
- At any given moment almost half the developing world's people are sick from unsafe water and sanitation;
- The lack of water supply and sanitation robs millions of dignity, energy, and time;
- Frequent disease is the main cause of poor child growth and early death;
- For a third of the world the real environment crisis is squalor, smells and disease on the door step;
- Economies suffer as hygiene-related illness costs developing countries five billion working days a year; and
- Sustainable development starts with people's dignity.

Disease
• Pakistan has 3.7% of the world's children aged 0-5, but accounts for 11% of the under 5 mortality owing to diarrhea and dysentery. The huge disease burden is related to poor sanitation and hygiene practices in the country.
• Disease-laden filth from streets, drains, and ponds enters the food chain in many ways-from irrigation of garden crops by contaminated sewage water, air-borne dust, cross contamination of water mains because of leakages and broken pipes. Children frequently pick up diseases playing in the dirt of the streets.
Practices
• Defecation in the open is the norm in the rural areas of the country. Only 30 – 40% of rural dwellings have internal latrines. There has been no significant improvement in rural coverage over the last decades.
• Only half of the wastewater in the urban areas of Pakistan is disposed off through underground or covered drains. The remainder is discharged through open drains into waterways, or faeces are dumped directly onto the roadside or mixed with solid waste for disposal.
• In the katchi abadis (informal settlements of the poor), practically all the wastewater is disposed off to the nearest open space, where most likely the household poultry and other animals also feed.
Outcomes
• Poor people In Pakistan are more prone to adverse health impact because of their inadequate nutrition, unhygienic living conditions, lack of access to health facilities, and greater exposure to polluted water.
• In many rural areas, the poor rely on ponds and irrigation channels for household water supply, but these exposed sources are also used for waste disposal. Illness and the associated cost of medical treatment that low income groups have to face are major contributing factors o persistent poverty.
• Savings and borrowings that are diverted to medical costs on account of serious illnesses leave many households either destitute or indebted.
Situation Analysis
• A national survey by Gallup of the knowledge levels, attitudes towards and practices for sanitation and hygiene revealed that the majority of Pakistanis did not have a clear understanding of the relationship between unsafe excreta disposal and diarrhea.
• There was not much difference in the frequency of diarrhea episodes between households having latrines and those without latrines, indicating that latrines alone do not have an impact unless behaviors associated with sound hygiene practices are also adopted.
• There is a misconception about the costs of latrines. The majority of respondents felt that latrine construction is expensive (about twice the actual cost) and they would not be able to afford it.
• Social status is the major reason for the construction of latrines by the respondents, and privacy is perceived to be the major advantage.

• Introduction of WASH in 133 schools in Islamabad, provincial capitals, and selected rural areas: PIEDAR introduced WASH in schools through demonstration of hand washing practices to students and teacher training workshops on hygiene.
• The translation into Urdu of the manual on Home Hygiene of the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH) was accomplished and printed (2006);
• The development and production of three illustrated manuals in Urdu on WASH for primary and secondary school students, and for teacher (2011).

• Media – PIEDAR worked with Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) to produce two video documentaries on WASH for primary and secondary school students that were repeatedly broadcast nation-wide on the PTV Education Channel;
• PIEDAR continued extension of WASH to around 40 schools in Rawalpindi-Islamabad cities through its Environmental Education Program.