WASH and Nutrition
Practitioner-friendly resources are available to support partners in integrating WASH and nutrition.
About
The resources listed below provide insights and research to support identification of pathogen pathways, collection of research, the role WASH can play in addressing the many sources of infection, and broad implications of recent studies.
Visit the PRO-WASH page to learn more about WASH interventions through capacity strengthening, knowledge-sharing, and applied WASH research opportunities.
Resources and Materials
Below is a list of resources about WASH and Nutrition.
- Resources
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Two Pathogens Pathway Studies for Children
PRO-WASH funded two applied research activities on pathogen pathway studies in Madagascar and in Kenya. The goals of both studies were to (1) identify the potential ingestion pathways of fecal pathogens (both human and animal) for children in the project implementation areas and (2) identify potential context-specific interventions for interrupting these transmission pathways. Read the Summary Brief: Pathogen Pathways Study for Children Under Two Years in the FIOVANA Intervention Areas of Southeastern Madagascar (also available in French here) or the full report here. Read the Project Report: Identifying pathogen profiles and exposure pathways for children under two years old in Samburu North and Turkana South, Kenya.
This guide presents planning considerations and a menu of data collection methods to help multisectoral food security activities. The guide can help practitioners determine whether existing evidence of fecal-oral pathogen pathways for infants and young children in an area are sufficient and provide guidance on how to design formative research activities to gather new evidence if necessary. It also provides useful insights on which data collection methods may be appropriate to measure effectiveness of WASH interventions targeting those pathways in children under the age of two.
Resource Guide on WASH, Nutrition, and Child Health
This resource guide collates links to resources on topics including relationships between domestic animals and human health, pathogens from domestic animals and child health, child mouthing and soil ingestion, “Transformative” WASH and OneHealth, WASH-Nutrition (including environmental enteric dysfunction [EED]), and WASH and enteric infections. The guide was developed by PRO-WASH, USAID WASHPaLS, and the Clean, Fed, and Nurtured Coalition with input from several researchers.
- Webinars
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Understanding Links between WASH and Child Nutrition (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)
This three-part webinar series shares findings from two recently completed pathogen pathways studies to identify and prioritize environmental risks for children associated with acute and chronic undernutrition. PRO-WASH funded and Aquaya conducted the research with the Fiovana RFSA in Madagascar, and Innovations for Poverty Action carried out the research with the Nawiri RFSA in Kenya. The webinar concludes with a panel discussion featuring researchers and program staff on the broader implications of the recent studies and how USAID IPs are applying the results to improve programming.
WASH and Nutrition Thematic Discussion Series
This 2022 series builds on the previous 2021 WASH and Nutrition webinar series to dig deeper into three themes: integration of early childhood development and WASH programming, behavioral interventions to reduce infant fecal exposure, and agriculture and animal husbandry. The series concludes with a discussion on implications for programming.
WASH, Nutrition and Child Growth Thematic Discussion Series
This webinar series looks at how infant and young child growth and development is negatively impacted by persistent fecal exposure, further demonstrating why traditional WASH interventions may not suffice. The series also contains information on how to proceed.
- Partner Resources