This research and capacity development project is a collaboration of the PROMISE Consortium (“Promoting Evidence-Based Investments in Hygiene and Sanitation for Health & Equity”) that brings together research and government partners from Bangladesh, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia, along with Emory University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the USA. We will focus our research on two critical areas of hygiene: food hygiene and hygiene and infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities (HCFs).

Our research objectives include: community-level faecal exposure assessments, HCF exposure assessments, and designing evidence-based intervention trials to reduce exposure to pathogens in the environment and pathogen transmission through hands, surfaces, and food. The research activities will be based on the priority information needs identified by stakeholders in each country. Capacity development objectives include providing training in risk assessment tools, data collection methods, lab analyses, data analysis, research administration, grant writing, science communication and advocacy.

The study design and methodology will involve cross-sectional studies in communities and HCFs, deploying hygiene and sanitation risk assessment tools (SaniPath and the Community Hazard Flow) These tools assess faecal contamination and pathogen hazards in the environment, identifying the dominant exposure pathways and guiding interventions. For HCFs, we will use two assessment tools (WASHCon and WASH FIT) to evaluate WASH conditions and identify areas for hygiene interventions.

Overall, the study aims to generate evidence for decision-making, build capacity among partner institutions, and translate research findings into policies, guidelines, and hygiene and sanitation interventions to protect human health and reduce exposure to pathogens.