IMPROVING HANDWASHING PROMOTION IN HUMANITARIAN CRISES

ACF has launched a new research project : WASH’EM: Improving handwashing promotion in humanitarian crises.

This research brings together the expertise of Action contre la Faim / Action against Hunger (ACF), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST). The objective of this research project is to develop a deep understanding of the determinants of hand hygiene in emergency settings so as to contribute to the development of rapid and effective behaviour change intervention tools. The field work for this research will take place in Kurdistan, Iraq and the Kivus, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Kurdistan has been selected as a case study of a protracted conflict. Here we will assess the determinants of behaviour among Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) living in and outside of camps. DRC is regularly affected by cholera outbreaks and will therefore act as a case study of how people behave in a disease outbreak. In DRC we will assess the determinants of behaviour before and then during a cholera outbreak. The study is made possible through the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).