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This module covers the links between water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and health with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.

The overall module aim is to enable students to understand and apply the principles and practices that should underlie water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes, in order to maximise health and social benefits. The module also aims to empower students to contribute usefully to discussions with other professionals regarding health impacts, technology choice and policy aspects of WASH and other environmental interventions affecting health in low- and middle-income countries.

Intended learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module a student will be able to:

1. Understand how water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) interventions impact public health and their relevance in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings;
2. Assess the strengths and limitations of the current evidence base for the effectiveness of specific WASH interventions on different health outcomes;
3. Have a critical appreciation of the importance of behaviour change strategies tailored to target population and target behaviours;
4. Apply this understanding to the design, evaluation and critique of WASH research and programmes.

Mode of delivery

This module is delivered predominantly face-to-face. Where specific teaching methods (lectures, seminars, discussion groups) are noted in this module specification these will be delivered by predominantly face-to-face sessions. There will be a combination of live and interactive activities (synchronous learning) as well as self-directed study (asynchronous learning).

Assessment

The assessment for this module has been designed to measure student learning against the module intended learning outcomes (ILOs) as listed above. Formative assessment methods may be used to measure students’ progress. The grade for summative assessment(s) only will go towards the overall award GPA.

The assessment for this module will be online. For the individual written assignment, students are asked to prepare a short report for UNICEF for inclusion in their next 5-year strategy in the context of government policy. Students should prepare a written report that must address the following five points:

1. Describe the priority WASH issue for inclusion in the next 5-year strategy;
2. Describe the public health impacts of the priority WASH issue;
3. Describe the existing barrier to addressing the priority WASH issue;
4. Recommend intervention(s) to address the priority WASH issue;
5. Describe the evaluation strategy.

The short report can be a maximum 2000 words, excluding references, figures and tables. All assessments will be graded by the MOs and written feedback provided.

Credits

• CATS: 15
• ECTS: 7.5

Module specification

For full information regarding this module please see the module specification.