Publications

Getting it right: improving maternal health through water, sanitation and hygiene (factsheet)

Each year 290,000 women die from complications during pregnancy, birth and the neonatal period; and an estimated 10 to 20 million women suffer from related health complications. Almost 90% of the maternal deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Much of this is preventable through practices that have long been established. Improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) provide significant health benefits reducing risks of bacterial and viral infections, parasitic infections and other diseases. Getting it right (published by Simavi) was written by Kathleen Shordt and Eefje Smet, consultants for IRC and reviewed by the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. The full report is available from the Simavi website, this factsheet gives a summary of the findings.

Maternal_Health_ Factsheet_Simavi_IRC_KIT.pdf (588.5 kB)

Key lessons learned from WaterAid Australia's hygiene promotion workshop (June 2010 Melbourne)

Within the framework of WaterAid Australia's learning and sharing project on hygiene promotion (HP), forty-five practitioners and researchers were convened on 9 June 2010 in Melbourne for a community of practise workshop on hygiene promotion. The workshop sought to map out progress, share experiences, and identify lessons learned in the development and evaluation of hygiene promotion programmes.

During this event, IRC’s Christine Sijbesma made a keynote presentation entitled, Coming Into Its Own: Hygiene Promotion For Development. Sijbesma offered insights to the study of hygiene promotion programmes and introduced the theoretical approach of Devine's FOAM model (2010) in analysing HP programmes. James Wicken of WaterAid Australia presented Val Curtis’ key note paper drawn from Curtis' on-going research on hygiene motivation and its health impacts.

Lessons, case studies and key note presentrations have been compiled in a book jointly published by WaterAid, the International WaterCentre and IRC. This learning and sharing project on hygiene and hygiene promotion is financed and supported by AusAid.

The attached file outlines the key lessons learned and discussions arising on the participants' interaction with the FOAMS (2010) model.

Click here to learn more about WaterAid Australia's community of practise initiative on hygiene promotion

Click here to access MONASH University's announcement on Sijbesma's lecture in Burnet (10 June 2010)

Hygiene Learning Event Key Messages.pdf (42.8 kB)

Models for hygiene behaviour change: a summary overview (June 2010)

Background note for WaterAid Australia’s Workshop on Hygiene Promotion, June 2010, by Christine Sijbesma.

'Coming into its own: hygiene promotion for development' explores the various behavioural change models that guide hygiene promotion programmes. It describes the level and process of change each model or theory uses (e.g.individual internal change/change processes, inter-personal and group changes/change processes and community-based change) and offers insights in the development of a more robust model to better analyse hygiene promotion programmes.The note recommends using the 'FOAMS' model to develop or analyse hygiene promotion programmes. FOAMS is an adaptation of the FOAM model developed by Coombes and Devine (2009) and adds a fifth element to hygiene promotion programmes: Focus, Opportuninties, Ability, Motivation and Sustained behaviour change.

'Coming into its own: hygiene promotion for development' has been published in Sharing experiences: effective hygiene promotion in South-East Asia and the Pacific. Mitcham, Vic, Australia, WaterAid Australia ; Adelaide, SA, Australia, International Water Centre ; The Hague, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.

Sijbesma-2010-Coming_into_its_own_HP.pdf (469.7 kB)