Welcome to the 23rd issue of the COVID-19 Hygiene Hub news bulletin.
In this issue, we are delighted to bring you a new learning brief about monitoring and evaluation of COVID-19 prevention programmes. You can register here to join a webinar about the brief on 3 August at 9am EDT.
We also have an update to our summary report on surface transmission and two new case studies for you, one about a collaborative approach to learning about Risk Communication and Community Engagement among refugees and host communities in Uganda, and one from WaterAid who are working with the national government in Nepal to promote COVID-19 hygiene behaviour change on the back of routine immunisation programmes.
If you have a question for the Hygiene Hub, need technical support or would like to share your project, get in touch with us at support@hygienehub.info.
Learning briefs
This month, we are very excited to share with you our latest learning brief in which we summarise what we have learnt about the monitoring and evaluation of COVID-19 prevention programmes since our launch 16 months ago. Informed by insights from our in-depth technical assistance, interviews with response organisations, donor and coordinating mechanisms as well as hundreds of informal conversations with response actors and discussions with humanitarian organisations, we describe how approaches have changed during the pandemic and outline ways to improve programmatic learning.
The brief is designed to complement the extensive collection of Hygiene Hub resources on monitoring and evaluation and our list of external resources on this topic.
Register here to join us at 9am EDT on 3 August 2021 for a webinar hosted by the Global Handwashing Partnership, the Global WASH Cluster and the Hygiene Hub to discuss the learning brief. Speakers will be from the Hygiene Hub, WaterAid, the National Business Compact on Coronavirus in Kenya (NBCC) and other partners.
Please also check out our previous learning briefs on hand hygiene promotion and disability and inclusion in COVID-19 prevention programmes.
Technical resources
We are growing and updating our collection of over 200 technical resources to support you in your COVID-19 response by giving you access to the relevant evidence and guidance.
Check out our newly updated summary report on preventing COVID-19 transmission via surfaces through cleaning and disinfection, a recent summary report on how to integrate COVID-19 vaccine promotion into prevention programmes, and a tool to help you identify ‘risky’ or sub-optimal behaviours related to mask use, handwashing and physical distancing.
All of our technical resources are available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. Please email us at support@hygienehub.info if you have requests or ideas for future resources.
In-depth technical assistance
We continue to offer in-depth technical advice and support to a range of organisations, countries and contexts through our global network of technical advisers.
A current example of this work is a Hygiene Hub collaboration between the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the World Bank and the Lusaka Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Company. We are in the final planning stages for a formative research project to capture the impact of the pandemic on service uptake among Lusaka Sanitation Program customers. This will inform a potential behavioural intervention strategy targeting uptake.
Case studies on COVID-19 response programmes
We want to encourage peer learning by sharing case studies that showcase concrete examples of policy, advocacy and programme implementation designed to address, or adapted to, the challenges of the pandemic.
Our first case study this month comes from the Uganda Learning, Evidence, Accountability and Research Network (U-Learn), a collaboration that brings together the Government of Uganda and a wide range of stakeholders in civil society to promote improved outcomes for refugees and host communities in Uganda.
In this case study, the U-Learn team describe how they assessed the ‘Risk Communication, Social Mobilization and Community Engagement’ pillar of the national COVID-19 response plan, identified gaps in the evidence, and addressed these gaps through targeted research designed for easy uptake by policymakers and practitioners.
U-Learn field officers conducting a focus group discussion. Source: U-Learn.
Our second case study comes from Nepal where WaterAid is working in partnership with the government to support the national COVID-19 response.
In this study, the WaterAid team explains how they adapted and scaled up an existing hygiene promotion approach that targets mothers and guardians attending routine immunisation clinics. The study explores how key preventative behaviours were added to the programme and new promotional materials and mass media assets were developed and rolled out.
Take-home sticker with key behaviour reminders. Source: WaterAid Nepal.
Other recent additions to our collection of now over 30 case studies have been about:
WaterAid’s mobile handwashing units in Dhaka, Bangladesh which provide wide and easy access to handwashing facilities in public places and encourage handwashing behaviours among commuters
An inclusive COVID-19 response programme to serve persons with disabilities in Kenya led by Amref Health
Action Contre La Faim’s use of a Community Perception Tracker process to follow, and respond to, perceptions about COVID-19 in communities in Zimbabwe
Employing Every1Mobile’s mobile technology to drive behaviour change and empower women in Kenya
Why not share your own experience with the sector?
If you would like to share your work and contribute to our collection of case studies, please contact claire.collin@lshtm.ac.uk. We are particularly keen to hear about programmes that incorporate advocacy, policy or sustainability components.
Social media channels
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