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Published: 15 May 2019

The burden of fetching water remains widespread, particularly for women, where access to water on premises is not common. However, limited evidence suggests that the quantity of water used by households doesn’t necessarily increase with an improved collection time. Visiting PhD student Alexandra Cassivi, along with a dedicated team of enumerators measured water quality and the time needed to collect it in Ndirande, Mbayani and Nchalo.  The goal of her research was to determine the impacts of water supply accessibility on water quantity and quality in different settings.  A second round of data collection will happen during the rainy season later this year.

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Published: 12 May 2019

Every two years, the sanitation community comes together to discuss the latest innovations in faecal sludge treatment and management.  This year, the Faecal Sludge Management Conference (FSM5) was held alongside the AfricaSan conference in Cape Town, South Africa.  Mabvuto Yesaya received a scholarship from BORDA to attend his first international conference and, along with Elizabeth Tilley present their paper: “Sludge Bomb: Managing the Growing Backlog of Unemptied Faecal Sludge in Blantyre, Malawi”.  Jan Freihardt, who spent 3 months with WASHTED conducting his research, presented “Citizen Science for Faecal Sludge Characterisation in Blantyre, Malawi”.  

For more information visit: https://fsm5.susana.org/en/

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Published: 31 January 2019

With funding from a GCRF Networking Grant and University of Strathclyde Escalator Fund, WASHTED hosted the kick off meeting (14th - 18th January) of a five country interdisciplinary network which aims to explore the barriers to effective sanitation and hygiene in fishing communities surrounding the African Great Lakes. 27 participants from Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda represented academia, public and private sector, and non governmental organisations. Participants shared experiences from across their settings and explored potential research areas to support the development of effective interventions which can support achievement of national targets and the sustainable development goals for these marginalised communities. The workshop also offered an opportunity for training participants in behaviour change in WASH which was facilitated by Robert Dreibelbis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

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Published: 30 January 2019

WASHTED through Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity (SHARE) research project attended the Water and Health Conference which was heard in October 2018 at the Water Institute in UNC, USA. 

Kondwani Chidziwisano and Dr. Tracy Morse represented WASHTED, where they made presentations about ongoing research at the centre. Kondwani made presentations about the importance of complementary food hygiene interventions in diarrhoea prevention in rural Malawi. While Dr. Morse gave an overview of a new water treatment technology that aims at improving safety of water in rural settings using solar-ceramic filtration unit. The conference created an interface to interact with fellow researchers and provided an opportunity for future collaborations.

Full information on the conference can be found here

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Published: 28 November 2018

WASHTED member Wrixon Mpanang’ombe presented results from the recent study on “Biowaste Treatment Technology Assessment For Blantyre, Malawi” at the ISWA International Solid Waste Association conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The research was based on a comprehensive stakeholder assessment and technology study for biowaste options at the Limbe market.  The results have been recently published in the Special Issue of Waste Management Practices in Developing Countries

Read more here