WASH Modeling

Recent results from large-scale randomized control studies of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions has led us to question our understanding of the public health benefits attributed to improving water quality and sanitation levels, our flagship interventions. The WASH Modeling project is a collaboration between researchers at the Rollins School of Public Health and the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan to develop a transmission modeling framework to support evidence-based context-specific WASH intervention planning. The project is supported by a two-year, grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The grant will enable us to develop mathematical models to understand dominant pathways of enteropathogen exposure. Using data from previous WASH intervention trials, we will model the impact of potential interventions across household and community scales under different scenarios of intervention fidelity and compliance as well as background rates of infection.

We are also exploring the potential impact of inadequate access to WASH in low- and middle-income countries for COVID-19 infections. Specifically, we will model how the need to used public water taps and shared sanitation may lead to community spread of COVID under different background infection rates.

This project provide actionable data for decision-makers on the threshold coverage rates for improvements to WASH that can be used to inform and improve the effectiveness of WASH interventions.

Study Location

Global

Target Population

Low and middle income countries

Principal Investigators

Emory University: Matthew Freeman

University of Michigan: Joseph Eisenberg

Funders

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation