Exploring My Research

The research that I have been doing has been surrounding the topics of water, sanitation and hygiene and how these three aspects of health play out in health facilities and the nutrition of mothers and children, as well as the community as a whole. So far, I have noticed that one of the biggest problems surrounding this topic is the lack of handwashing and decent toilets in households. From the articles that I have read, efforts have been made to improve sanitation and stop open defecation in Zambia for good by the year 2020. One of the efforts that has been made was presented in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The article discussed how communities in Zambia are working on changing the beliefs, behaviors, and perceptions of sanitation and hygiene. Through community-led total sanitation, “community champions”, which consist of individuals who are highly respected in the community, are taught how to carry out a process known as “triggering”. Essentially, “triggering” is a process by which community champions persuade other community members to realize certain behaviors are unsanitary and should be stopped. Such behaviors, include not washing one’s hands after using the toilet, defecating in the open, cooking food near human feces, etc. By eliciting these strong emotions such as disgust and shame, community members are persuaded into developing better sanitation habits like building latrines or handwashing stations. In some instances, the community will even create formalized sanitation committees that work to improve waste management and sanitation practices in the community as a result of this process. My research has also shown that these unsanitary practices have had detrimental consequences on community health. Thousands of children die each year in Zambia due to the diarrheal diseases that result from these unclean living conditions, especially a lack of access to safe drinking water. In some districts, the percentage of households that have access to safe drinking water has dropped below 25%. Even more concerning is the fact that flooding in the plains has contaminated many of the communities’ safe drinking spots, leaving community members with muddy water to drink. With unsafe drinking water, food cannot be safely prepared, oral medications cannot be safely administered, and health facility-acquired infections rise drastically. Some proposed implementations to remedy this multifaceted issue included the involvement of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Community Development for Mother and Child Health, as well as local governments.

Moving forward, our goal for this project is to showcase the underlying causes for the unsanitary practices that are prevalent in Zambia. I think it would be interesting to understand the beliefs and perceptions communities hold about these issues, and use that information to formulate an effective solution. Because we will not be able to speak to individuals living in the community, my partner and I will do a thorough literature review to better understand how hygiene practices differ in rural and urban settings. Additionally, we will interview health professionals at hospitals and other health facilities to learn more about the prevalence of water-borne diseases in the community and how a lack of access to clean water affects the proper and safe administration of medical care. Next, we will interview workers of the sanitation and waste disposal industry to investigate how human waste is disposed and perhaps how their waste management procedures could be endangering the health of the community. Lastly, we will interview the workers of WaterAid to understand how their NGO aims to combat this very complicated issue. Eventually, I would like to see the information used from our research project helping WaterAid better assist the community it aims to serve in regards to water, sanitation, and hygiene. Hopefully, the information that we gather during our time in the country will help WaterAid better understand the reasons for these unhealthy behaviors so that the projects they implement will not only be effective but also sustainable.