What a new indicator list means for menstrual health and hygiene

Last month, a consortium of experts and stakeholders on menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) and measurement launched a shortlist of indicators to monitor girls’ MHH at national level. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,…

Case study: Dr Sheilah Simiyu

Hygiene is so basic yet so difficult for people to practise and we don’t know why, says Dr. Sheillah Simiyu, Associate Research Scientist at the African Population & Health Research Centre in Kenya. Simiyu, who has dedicated her career to water, sanitation and hygiene, is one of five researchers selected to be the first recipients of the Reckitt fellowship. This three year program aims to support the next generation of evidence at the intersection of health and hygiene and is run by the Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute. 

Case study: Dr Ian Ross

Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis have a lot to offer hygiene research, according to Dr. Ian Ross, a research fellow in health economics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Such information, he explained, is critical when it comes to allocating resources to the most efficient interventions and reaching more people with the same money. Despite this, very little research in this area exists, he said.

Case study: Dr Julie Hennegan

There are a lot of different menstrual-related needs that people have and the default is to provide tangible products, but more information is needed about what people actually want and need. With support from the Reckitt fellowship, Dr. Julie Hennegan, research fellow at Australia’s Burnet Institute, plans to generate research on just that.

Case study: Giorgia Gon

How can culture be leveraged to promote improved hygiene practices? That’s the question Giorgia Gon, Assistant Professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, plans to answer over the next three years.

Following Covid, where do we stand with hygiene?

Over the past two years, globally the world’s understanding of the importance of hygiene and where it fits within our toolbox of preventative measures to save off illness has substantially increased. More people are handwashing on a more…

Hygiene experts call out the lack of attention to World Hand Hygiene Day

May 5th marked the World Health Organization’s World Hand Hygiene Day. Despite the world still being in the throes of a global pandemic where hand hygiene plays a core component, little was done to mark the day.

Individual action required to safeguard the NHS

The NHS is buckling under the weight of increasing COVID-19 cases. Maintaining hygiene standards is one way individuals can help. Earlier this week an NHS chief described a health system on its knees under the strain of new coronavirus infections.…

On World Health Day hygiene experts say global health has forgotten its most important weapon

Hygiene is vital in fighting off a whole range of diseases, including COVID-19, yet policymakers and others fail to invest, promote, and research it, say hygiene experts at the Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute. Instead, vaccines, antibiotics…