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

Access to water, sanitation and hygiene for people living with HIV and AIDS: a cross-sectional study in Nepal

People living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) are one of the most vulnerable people to WASH associated diseases in Nepal. They are still stigmatized while enjoying WASH services and their risk & vulnerability are further exacerbated due to lack of inadequate WASH. A descriptive cross-sectional study was commissioned by WaterAid in Nepal (WAN) with the objectives to increase understanding of PLHA’s access to WASH and its impact on their daily lives in order to inform health, HIV and WASH sectors. This was a cross-sectional study used mixed methods. Data were collected from 196 PLHAs from different geographic areas. The study does re-emphasize that PLHA have limited access to safe water and improved hygiene & sanitation services, more pronounced in rural areas than in urban. There is an increased need of WASH for them but lacking to meet the needs. Lack of access to WASH and its effect on quality of life invariably call for an urgent action by all stakeholders. The study also revealed some evidence of stigma and discrimination faced by PLHAs

Evidence-based emergency response to Covid-19: using data to inform hygiene behaviour change interventions

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