Intervention to Improve Hygienic Environments, Hand Washing and Food Hygiene Behaviors in Early Childhood Development Centres and Households in Malawi
Principal Investigator: Kondwani Chidziwisano, RGHI Senior Fellow
Diarrhoea resulting from poor Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) practices has been linked to child under-nutrition globally (Malawi inclusive).
Food, hand washing and faecal contamination of the household and public playgrounds have been associated with potential transmission of diarrhoea illness. In Malawi, Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDCs) are vital for a child’s social, mental and psychological growth and are run by volunteers. Being an environment that accommodates young children who are prone to numerous communicable diseases, availability of better WASH facilities with good hygiene practices in the ECDCs is essential. However, there is limited application of behaviour change theories in addressing inadequate hygiene behaviours in the ECDCs where young children spend a significant amount of their daytime. Regrettably, previous research interventions have mainly focused in primary schools and households.
With the use of the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour (COM–B) model of behaviour change, we propose a three-year intervention trial to design and test an ECDC-based intervention to improve behaviours (i.e. hygienic environment, hand washing and food hygiene) in the ECDCs with an extension to the home environment as community settings provide effective touch points for engagement to ensure sustainability. Thus, a multi-method study to understand determinants of the targeted hygienic behaviours will be conducted including designing and testing of interventions in the ECDCs and households of low and middle income areas of Blantyre city. Hence, the study will conduct Phase 1 (rapid assessment and formative research), Phase 2 (design and feasibility study) and Phase 3 (randomised trial and Process Evaluation).
It is anticipated that the novel, simple – scalable and sustainable interventions will improve hygiene behaviours and subsequently inform revision of existing policies and guidelines on ECDC implementation in Malawi and beyond.
