Combining sanitation and hand washing promotion: an example from Amhara, Ethiopia

Given the importance of the MDGs, sanitation coverage is a focus of many programs. Hand washing is often not integrated into sanitation promotion even though hand washing with soap at certain junctures helps reduce morbidity and mortality associated with diarrheal disease and is easy to incorporate into sanitation programming. With support of the World Bank-AF’s Water and Sanitation Program and USAID’s Hygiene Improvement Project, the Amhara Regional Health and Education Bureaus in Ethiopia implemented a program promoting sanitation uptake together with the installation of a hand washing device at latrines, fully supplied with water and a cleansing agent, in accordance with the national hygiene and sanitation strategy. This document reviews the results. Although statistically significant drops in sanitation uptake were observed, hand washing device installation kept pace with existing (substandard) trends but did not surpass them. Hand washing promotion may need to rely on social mobilization approaches as much as sanitation does

Integrating hygiene improvement into HIV/AIDS programming to reduce diarrhea morbidity

This paper highlights discrete hygiene activities that organizations working in HIV/AIDS prevention and care can integrate into HIV/AIDS programs to help achieve the hygiene objectives outlined in the Preventive Care Package Guidance issued by the President’s Emergency Plan. These discrete hygiene activities can help mitigate the impact of diarrhea on people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) and their families thereby prolonging and improving their quality of and protecting family members and caregivers from contracting diarrhea

Horizontal challenges: WASH and nutrition integration

Vertical development programming is not delivering the results or progress that countries need to develop and thrive. At the household level, undernutrition in all its forms is estimated to contribute to 3.1 million child deaths each year. Collaboration among sectors such as WASH, nutrition, and health is necessary and recognised but is only beginning and as in all integration efforts, presents challenges. Recent emphasis on integrative and comprehensive approaches has the implicit hypothesis that by integrating we can make headway and perhaps achieve cost efficiencies as well. Yet evidence is still scant, this paper begins to document several modalities for integrated WASH programming, using experiences in two countries, Mali and Uganda to highlight the challenges we have encountered to integration while trying to make programming more horizontal and true to life

Applying a small doable action behaviour change approach to address monumental challenges in S.W. Bangladesh

CLTS focuses on trigger commitment to ending open defecation. But what do you do when communities practice fixed point defecation, yet almost NONE of it is hygienic and it leaks into the environment??This paper will first generally describe the USAID WASHplus/Bangladesh activity, and continue to highlight some of the innovative behaviour change approaches we are applying to a particularly challenging area of Southwestern Bangladesh. Our approach to increasing the practice of WASH behaviours is both theory-based and grounded in established best practice, and focuses on making change possible and sustainable by addressing both essential ‘supply’ of key WASH products and negotiating a menu of “small doable actions” that are both feasible and effective for resource constrained households

Meeting the hygiene, safe water and sanitation needs of people living with HIV/Aids (PLWHA)

Meeting the hygiene, safe water and sanitation needs of people living with HIV/Aids (PLWHA

Improving hygienic environments for infants and young children testing playpens for feasibility and appeal in rural households of Amhara, Ethiopia

This record includes an extended abstract and MP4 presentation. Presented at the 42nd WEDC International Conference

Household Air Pollution in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Health Risks and Research Priorities

<p>Household Air Pollution in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Health Risks and Research Priorities</p

HAP in urban and rural settings with examples of other confounding sources of pollutants.

<p>Multiple factors influencing household air pollution and personal exposure levels need to be considered for effective measurement of exposure in health research and evaluation studies, which will differ in urban vs. rural settings and may vary based on cultural practices, geography, and elevation. Each site of HAP must be carefully assessed for other potential sources of products of incomplete combustion that may confound household or personal monitoring of exposure.</p

Summary of major gaps and research needs for cross-cutting issues.

<p>Summary of major gaps and research needs for cross-cutting issues.</p

Approaches and key study designs required to address research and evaluation priorities.

<p>CVD, cardiovascular disease; IHD, ischemic heart disease; TB, tuberculosis;</p