Hygiene: new hopes, new horizons.

Although promotion of safe hygiene is the single most cost-effective means of preventing infectious disease, investment in hygiene is low both in the health and in the water and sanitation sectors. Evidence shows the benefit of improved hygiene, especially for improved handwashing and safe stool disposal. A growing understanding of what drives hygiene behaviour and creative partnerships are providing fresh approaches to change behaviour. However, some important gaps in our knowledge exist. For example, almost no trials of the effectiveness of interventions to improve food hygiene in developing countries are available. We also need to figure out how best to make safe hygiene practices matters of daily routine that are sustained by social norms on a mass scale. Full and active involvement of the health sector in getting safe hygiene to all homes, schools, and institutions will bring major gains to public health

Costs of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection attributable to not handwashing: the cases of India and China.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the national costs relating to diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections from not handwashing with soap after contact with excreta and the costs and benefits of handwashing behaviour change programmes in India and China. METHODS: Data on the reduction in risk of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection attributable to handwashing with soap were used, together with World Health Organization (WHO) estimates of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection, to estimate DALYs due to not handwashing in India and China. Costs and benefits of behaviour change handwashing programmes and the potential returns to investment are estimated valuing DALYs at per capita GDP for each country. RESULTS: Annual net costs to India from not handwashing are estimated at US$23 billion (16-35) and to China at US$ 12 billion (7-23). Expected net returns to national behaviour change handwashing programmes would be US$5.6 billion (3.4-8.6) for India at US$ 23 (16-35) per DALY avoided, which represents a 92-fold return to investment, and US$2.64 billion (2.08-5.57) for China at US$ 22 (14-31) per DALY avoided - a 35-fold return on investment. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest large economic gains relating to decreases in diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection for both India and China from behaviour change programmes to increase handwashing with soap in households

Explaining the outcomes of the 'Clean India' campaign: institutional behaviour and sanitation transformation in India.

INTRODUCTION: Many less developed countries are struggling to provide universal access to safe sanitation, but in the past 5 years India has almost reached its target of eliminating open defaecation. OBJECTIVE: To understand how the Indian government effected this sanitation transformation. METHODS: The study employed interviews with 17 actors in the government's 'Clean India' programme across the national capital and four states, which were analysed using a theory of change grounded in Behaviour Centred Design. RESULTS: The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) claims to have improved the coverage of toilets in rural India from 39% to over 95% of households between 2014 and mid-2019. From interviews with relevant actors we constructed a theory of change for the programme, in which high-level political support and disruptive leadership changed environments in districts, which led to psychological changes in district officials. This, in turn, led to changed behaviour for sanitation programming. The prime minister set an ambitious goal of eliminating open defaecation by the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi (October 2019). This galvanised government bureaucracy, while early success in 100 flagship districts reduced the scepticism of government employees, a cadre of 500 young professionals placed in districts imparted new ideas and energy, social and mass media were used to inform and motivate the public, and new norms of ethical behaviour were demonstrated by leaders. As a result, district officials became emotionally involved in the programme and felt pride at their achievement in ridding villages of open defaecation. CONCLUSIONS: Though many challenges remain, governments seeking to achieve the sustainable development goal of universal access to safe sanitation can emulate the success of India's Swachh Bharat Mission

Food hygiene practices of mothers and level of contamination in child's food in Nepal: a formative research

Preventable and treatable food-borne diseases are a major cause of illness globally. Inadequate food hygiene is likely to cause a substantial proportion of foodborne infections including diarrhoea among infants and young children. Although proper food hygiene practices may prevent disease, there is little evidence to support this premise. Very few intervention studies have been carried out and there has been little effort to undertake food hygiene interventions for the reduction of childhood diarrhoea and malnutrition. A simple and replicable food hygiene intervention, which can be implemented by the WASH, health and nutrition sectors at scale has yet to be designed and tested. The formative research was conducted in a rural hill setting in Nepal during April-June 2012, examining mothers’ food hygiene practices and their environmental and psychological determinants, the level of microbes in the child’s food, and critical and behavioral control points. Formative research helped to prioritize five key food hygiene behaviours for the design of an intervention in the next phase of the PhD research

Disentangling the effects of a multiple behaviour change intervention for diarrhoea control in Zambia: a theory-based process evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhoea is a leading cause of child death in Zambia. As elsewhere, the disease burden could be greatly reduced through caregiver uptake of existing prevention and treatment strategies. We recently reported the results of the Komboni Housewives intervention which tested a novel strategy employing motives including affiliation and disgust to improve caregiver practice of four diarrhoea control behaviours: exclusive breastfeeding; handwashing with soap; and correct preparation and use of oral rehydration salts (ORS) and zinc. The intervention was delivered via community events (women's forums and road shows), at health clinics (group session) and via radio. A cluster randomised trial revealed that the intervention resulted in a small improvement in exclusive breastfeeding practices, but was only associated with small changes in the other behaviours in areas with greater intervention exposure. This paper reports the findings of the process evaluation that was conducted alongside the trial to investigate how factors associated with intervention delivery and receipt influenced caregiver uptake of the target behaviours. METHODS: Process data were collected from the eight peri-urban and rural intervention areas throughout the six-month implementation period and in all 16 clusters 4-6 weeks afterwards. Intervention implementation (fidelity, reach, dose delivered and recruitment strategies) and receipt (participant engagement and responses, and mediators) were explored through review of intervention activity logs, unannounced observation of intervention events, semi-structured interviews, focus groups with implementers and intervention recipients, and household surveys. Evaluation methods and analyses were guided by the intervention's theory of change and the evaluation framework of Linnan and Steckler. RESULTS: Intervention reach was lower than intended: 39% of the surveyed population reported attending one or more face-to-face intervention event, of whom only 11% attended two or more intervention events. The intervention was not equally feasible to deliver in all settings: fewer events took place in remote rural areas, and the intervention did not adequately penetrate communities in several peri-urban sites where the population density was high, the population was slightly higher socio-economic status, recruitment was challenging, and numerous alternative sources of entertainment existed. Adaptations made by the implementers affected the fidelity of implementation of messages for all target behaviours. Incorrect messages were consequently recalled by intervention recipients. Participants were most receptive to the novel disgust and skills-based interactive demonstrations targeting exclusive breastfeeding and ORS preparation respectively. However, initial disgust elicitation was not followed by a change in associated psychological mediators, and social norms were not measurably changed. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of measured behaviour change was likely due to issues with both the intervention's content and its delivery. Achieving high reach and intensity in community interventions delivered in diverse settings is challenging. Achieving high fidelity is also challenging when multiple behaviours are targeted for change. Further work using improved tools is needed to explore the use of subconscious motives in behaviour change interventions. To better uncover how and why interventions achieve their measured effects, process evaluations of complex interventions should develop and employ frameworks for investigation and interpretation that are structured around the intervention's theory of change and the local context. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered as part of the larger trial on 5 March 2014 with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02081521

Effect of a School-Based Hygiene Behavior Change Campaign on Handwashing with Soap in Bihar, India: Cluster-Randomized Trial.

Changing hand hygiene behavior at scale in the community remains a challenge. The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of Unilever's school-based "School of 5" handwashing campaign on handwashing with soap (HWWS) in schoolchildren and their mothers in the Indian state of Bihar. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial in two districts. We randomized a total of 32 villages with at least one eligible school to intervention and control groups (1:1) and recruited 338 households in each group for outcome measurement. We used structured observation in households to measure HWWS at target occasions (after defecation, soap use during bathing, and before each main meal) in schoolchildren and their mothers. Observers were blinded to intervention status. We observed 636 target occasions (297 in the intervention arm and 339 in the control arm) in mothers and school-going children. After the intervention, HWWS prevalence at target occasions was 22.4% in the control arm and 26.6% in the intervention arm (prevalence difference +4.4%, 95% confidence interval: -4.0, 12.8). The difference was similar in children and mothers. Observers appeared to be adequately blinded to intervention status, whereas observed households were successfully kept unaware of the purpose of observations. To conclude, we found no evidence for a health-relevant effect of the School of 5 intervention on HWWS in schoolchildren and their mothers. Qualitative research suggested that reasons for the low impact of the intervention included low campaign intensity, ineffective delivery, and a model possibly not well tailored to these challenging physical and social environments

Effect of a behaviour-change intervention on handwashing with soap in India (SuperAmma): a cluster-randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhoea and respiratory infections are the two biggest causes of child death globally. Handwashing with soap could substantially reduce diarrhoea and respiratory infections, but prevalence of adequate handwashing is low. We tested whether a scalable village-level intervention based on emotional drivers of behaviour, rather than knowledge, could improve handwashing behaviour in rural India. METHODS: The study was done in Chittoor district in southern Andhra Pradesh, India, between May 24, 2011, and Sept 10, 2012. Eligible villages had a population of 700-2000 people, a state-run primary school for children aged 8-13 years, and a preschool for children younger than 5 years. 14 villages (clusters) were selected, stratified by population size (1200), and randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to intervention or control (no intervention). Clusters were enrolled by the study manager. Random allocation was done by the study statistician using a random number generator. The intervention included community and school-based events incorporating an animated film, skits, and public pledging ceremonies. Outcomes were measured by direct observation in 20-25 households per village at baseline and at three follow-up visits (6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after the intervention). Observers had no connection with the intervention and observers and participant households were told that the study was about domestic water use to reduce the risk of bias. No other masking was possible. The primary outcome was the proportion of handwashing with soap at key events (after defecation, after cleaning a child's bottom, before food preparation, and before eating) at all follow-up visits. The control villages received a shortened version of the intervention before the final follow-up round. Outcome data are presented as village-level means. FINDINGS: Handwashing with soap at key events was rare at baseline in both the intervention and control groups (1% [SD 1] vs 2% [1]). At 6 weeks' follow-up, handwashing with soap at key events was more common in the intervention group than in the control group (19% [SD 21] vs 4% [2]; difference 15%, p=0·005). At the 6-month follow-up visit, the proportion handwashing with soap was 37% (SD 7) in the intervention group versus 6% (3) in the control group (difference 31%; p=0·02). At the 12-month follow-up visit, after the control villages had received the shortened intervention, the proportion handwashing with soap was 29% (SD 9) in the intervention group and 29% (13) in the control group. INTERPRETATION: This study shows that substantial increases in handwashing with soap can be achieved using a scalable intervention based on emotional drivers. FUNDING: Wellcome Trust, SHARE

Theory-driven formative research to inform the design of a national sanitation campaign in Tanzania - Household Interview Guide

There are gaps in global understanding about how to design and implement interventions to improve sanitation. This formative research study provided insights for the subsequent redesign of a government-led national sanitation campaign targeting rural populations in Tanzania. The Behaviour Centred Design approach was used to investigate the determinants of toilet building, improvement and use. Varied, novel, and interactive research tools were employed in fifty-five households in two regions of rural Tanzania. Results were analysed to articulate a Theory of Change, which then informed intervention design