Workshop at Emory Brings Interdisciplinary Researchers Together to Discuss Exposure Assessments

In September of 2019, SaniPath researchers participated in a workshop supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation held at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The workshop brought together an interdisciplinary group of exposure assessment researchers in the WASH sector. The objectives of the workshop were four-fold:

1. Identify criteria under which to compare various exposure assessment approaches

2. Discuss lessons in exposure science from other sectors of environmental health to explore potential application to enteric pathogen exposure assessments

3. Critically review existing and emerging enteric pathogen exposure assessment approaches

4. Determine and define research priorities to help move the field of enteric pathogen exposure science forward

The takeaways from the workshop are described in a publication by Goddard, et al. (2020). In the paper, the SaniPath Tool is cited as an example of an exposure assessment tool that measures the important interaction between environmental contamination and behavioral drivers.

Goddard et al. (2020).pdf

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FSM5 & AfricaSan5 Conference: Public Health Data in Sanitation Planning Workshop

Workshop convened by: Emory University Center for Global Safe WASH, Lusaka City Council, Kampala Capital City Authority, Makerere University School of Public Health, icddr,b, TREND Ghana, Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, World Bank

Workshop Background

Recent trends in urbanization and changing population dynamics have led to a dramatic rise in populations living in urban areas throughout Africa and Asia. These urbanizing populations settle in areas in which water, sanitation and hygiene systems are already overburdened, and many live in unplanned or illegal urban or peri-urban settlements. Rapid urbanization has outpaced sanitation services and fecal sludge management (FSM) in many cities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa leading to gaps in FSM along the sanitation value chain. Shit Flow Diagrams have highlighted the points where unsafely-managed fecal waste enters the environment, but equally important is understanding where this waste ends up and the public health risks associated with its unsafe management. Sanitation decision-makers currently have a number of tools at their disposal to increase the availability and accessibility of data to support evidence-based decision-making. However, there are few opportunities to share the results of these tools and how they have been, and can be, used to influence sanitation investment, policies, and decision -making practices. This workshop allowed participants to learn about the approaches, successes, and challenges of organizations who aimed to utilize public health data in urban sanitation decision-making and to engage with fellow participants on ways to improve evidence-based decision-making in the sanitation sector. The convening organizations have all utilized the SaniPath Exposure Assessment Tool to understand exposure to fecal contamination in urban and peri-urban areas and shared their experience using this tool in the framework of factors that influence decision-making.

Wordcloud of discussion topics from workshop notes

Access Workshop Presentations Here Access Workshop Report Here