Quelimane Urban Environment and Sanitation Transformation “QUEST”

Inadequate sanitation can spread enteric pathogens into the environment resulting in infections that cause diarrhea and other long term negative health effects for children. Densely populated urban slums - where there is high burden of disease and low existing access to infrastructure – are suggested to have the greatest potential health gains from WASH interventions. The World Bank-funded Mozambique Urban Sanitation Project will construct a wastewater treatment plant, new drainage infrastructure, and new sewer lines including a condominial sewer system in Quelimane. Identifying the impacts of this urban sanitation improvement can help inform future policy decisions.​

This research aims to the establish baseline WASH conditions, measures of women’s empowerment, and child health before the delivery of a neighborhood wide sanitation and drainage intervention. To establish this baseline, we will:

  • Conduct a survey to map the urban, informal neighborhoods in Quelimane

  • Collect health and development data from 600-900 children aged 1 months - 5 years old including: gut pathogen carriage, height, weight, diarrhea symptomology, and dried blood spot

  • Collect and analyze domestic soil samples and coprophagous flies

  • Conduct environmental surveillance for malaria and chikungunya through mosquito trapping

  • Obtain measures of women’s empowerment through validated measures - Agency, Resources, and Institutional Structures for Sanitation-related Empowerment (ARISE) Scales

 

Timeline

2024-2025

Study Location

Quelimane, Mozambique

 

Target Population

Children under 5 years old

 

Principal Investigators

Emory University: Matthew Freeman

University of Washington: Karen Levy

Indiana University: Drew Capone

 

IMPLEMENTING partners

National Health Institute (INS), Ministry of Health, Mozambique: Vanessa Monteiro, Victoria Cumbane, Elisa Uaeieca, Romeu de Melo

 

Funders

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Indiana CTSI, National Institutes of Health

 

Project Staff

Jedidiah Snyder, Emory Hoelscher-Hull

  

Enumerators

Telma Luís Vasco, Faquira Aibo Afonso Chimbwa, Mussa Malface Amera, Alda Geraldo Morais Macário, Ricardo Eusébio Froi, Ilda Cleonisse António, Rosa João Coima