Enreca Health > Research Projects > SANIVAT
Water supply, Sanitation, Hygiene Promotion and Health in Vietnam (SANIVAT)
Project Period 2. phase: 1 October 2007 - 30 September 2011
Project Budget : 8.987.158 DKK
Main Collaborating Institutions: National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology - Vietnam, National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health - Vietnam, National Institute of Nutrition - Vietnam, Faculty of Public Health - Hanoi Medical University - Vietnam, Department of Parasitology - Hanoi Medical University - Vietnam, Department of Disease Biology - Faculty of Life Sciences - University of Copenhagen - Denmark, Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology - University of Copenhagen - Denmark, Department of Epidemiology - Statens Serum Institut - Denmark
Principal Project Coordinators:Department of Disease Biology (Faculty of Life Sciences -
University of Copenhagen) as the Principal Responsible Partner (Prof. Anders
Dalsgaard), National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (Vietnam) as
the Local Responsible Partner (Prof. Phung Dac Cam)
Project Description
Background: Through its Sector Support Programme to Water and Sanitation, Danida will in joint cooperation with AusAID and the Netherlands provide their assistance to the National Target Programme (NTP) for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) in its second phase (2006-2010). The 5-year RWSS-NTPII support programme consists of a 2-year pilot phase commencing last quarter 2006 and a roll-out phase during 2008-2010.
The direct human health benefits from interventions within water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion area often questioned. Little is known in Vietnam about the health impacts and community responses to such intervention. The Danida support (2006-2010) within water, sanitation and hygiene (RWSS-NTPII) provides a unique opportunity to conduct inter-disciplinary operational field research which will generate new knowledge of impact on human health and environmental pollution by the planned interventions. Such knowledge can together with in-depth knowledge of people's hygiene perceptions and their reactions to hygiene promotion interventions be used to improve and increase the efficiency of current and future intervention programs.
However it is noted that RWSS-NTPII objectives are mainly based on reaching targets with coverage rate of RWSS and thus the outputs and means of verification of the RWSS-NTPII are only to a limited extent dealing with assessment of intervention impact. The planned activities in RWSS-NTPII show that there are needs and opportunities to build research capacity within the framework and pilot provinces of NTPII in particular through health impact assessment and hygiene perception studies that will lead to more efficient interventions within water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. During its 4 year project life (10/2007-9/2011), SANIVAT will in a cost-effective and synergistic take advantage of this unique opportunity to conduct large-scale inter-disciplinary operational field research within the framework of Danida program support to improvement of water, sanitation and hygiene, thus generating results of direct relevance for improving human health, in particular child health, and reducing environmental pollution. In addition, SANIVAT will strengthen institutional capacities to conduct the required risk assessment and perception studies on human health and hygiene aspects within water, sanitation and hygiene promotion. On the other hand, SANIVAT will also build the needed capacity to effectively disseminate and communicate research findings to the international scientific community as well as end-users and the public in general. At the same time the project will build the capacity enabling Vietnamese partners to obtain significant external funding and being an attractive research partners for national and international research institutions and funding bodies.
Aim : SANIVAT is a Danida-funded project that supports research in health impacts of water, sanitation and hygiene interventions and how people perceive hygiene, health risks and different types of hygiene promotion. The project also aims to build capacity in relevant national institutions to conduct risk assessment and perception studies on human health and hygiene aspects relating to water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion.
The overall objective of SANIVAT is: "Improved health and living conditions of the rural poor including ethnic minorities through provision of clean water, sanitation, hygiene promotion and protection of the environment", which is identical to the development objective of the RWSS-NPTII program.
The immediate objectives of SANIVAT are:
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Strengthened capacity at partner institutions to conduct inter-disciplinary field research on community response and health impacts of water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion intervention;
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Assessed health impacts (focus on diarrhea, helminth infections in children and food safety in households) and community response to water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion interventions supported by Danish sector program support.
SANIVAT involves key Vietnamese and Danish institutions that will address three major obstacles for doing research on health and hygiene aspects of interventions within water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotions:
Limited technical, methodological and management capacity to conduct needed research;
Limited expertise in conducting large-scale inter-disciplinary operational impact assessment and perception studies within water supply, sanitation, hygiene and human health; and
Limited capacity to effectively disseminate and communicate research results.
Approaches (methodology) : All SANIVAT field research activities will take place in Lao Cai province, a northern province with different ethnic minorities in Vietnam. It is also one of the nine pilot provinces of the RWSS-NTPII program. Two rural communes of Lao Cai city - Ta Phoi and Hop Thanh communes - have been selected as the project study areas where all of the planned intervention activities from RWSS-NTPII will be implemented.
The health impact assessment of interventions on water supply, sanitation, and hygiene promotion will be implemented through different field studies researches, including PhD studies. They include a longitudinal study assessing children's diarrhoea incidence and aetiology, a follow-up study on children's helminth reinfection, and follow-up studies on the microbiological quality of drinking water and food at household level. In addition, two qualitative studies (PhD studies) are conducted to assess hygiene perceptions and practices among school children and the ethnic community. Another PhD research using molecular biology technology will focus on zoonotic transmission of enteric pathogens in the ethnic villages, which also consists of a general survey of animal waste handling at household level.
Scope of studies : The partner institutions will implement the SANIVAT project over a period of 5-years in close coordination and collaboration with the Danida's programme support to RWSS-NTPII (2006-2010).
The activities to be carried out in the SANIVAT project have been organized into nine work packages refer directly to the activity. The titles of the nine work packages are:
- WP1: Project management and coordination of research and RWSS-NTPII activities in Dak Lak and Lao Cai provinces
- WP2: Selection and characterization of study sites and finalization of study design
- WP3: Capacity building needs and training
- WP4: Impact of RWSS-NTPII interventions within water supply, sanitation, and hygiene promotion
- WP5: Children diarrhea and helminth infections
- WP6: Drinking water quality and food hygiene at household level
- WP7: Hygienic aspects of human excreta and animal waste handling and use as fertilizer in agriculture
- WP8: Perception of hygiene and the effect of hygiene promotional activities
- WP9: Dissemination and research communication
In WP1 the needed contacts, formal approvals, and arrangements for initiating and managing SANIVAT activities will be established with project stakeholders, in particular RWSS-NTIPII. In WP2 and 3 the final study design and sites will be decided upon and research protocols developed. Capacity and specific training needs will be assessed and different course and training activities provided. WP4-8 will assess the health impacts of the RWSS-NTPII interventions within water supply, sanitation, hygiene promotion, food hygiene and animal wastes. Specific studies will generate new knowledge on the causes of and how to prevent children diarrhea and helminth infections as well as preventing faecal pollution of drinking water and foods at household level. Through a wide range of different types of activities, the WP9 describes how results will be effectively disseminated and communicated to the scientific and non-scientific stakeholder communities, e.g. through the project website, other related websites, biannual newsletters, research briefs, and different types of stakeholder meetings at both national, provincial and commune level.
Contact person:
Professor Anders Dalsgaard
Department of Disease Biology
Faculty of Life Science
Copenhagen University
Stigböjlen 4
DK-1870 Frederiksberg C
Tel: +45 35 332720; Fax +45 35 332755
Email: ad @ life.ku.dk
Professor Phung Dac Cam
Head of Division of Enteric Infections
National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology
1 Yersin Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: +84 4 38219074; Fax: +84 4 39719045
Email: cam @ fpt.vn
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