Medicine & Health

WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Published November 18, 2016 Curated Collections

When it was launched on November 19, 2001, and later in 2013 when it became an official UN day, UN World Toilet Day has focused primarily on the poorest countries in the ‘Global South’. However, additional information now also highlights a surprising level of poverty-related neglected diseases linked to inadequate sanitation in impoverished areas of wealthy countries. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), PLOS Medicine, Speaking of Medicine, and the PLOS family of journals are committed to highlighting the impact of WASH and allied measures on reducing the global burden of neglected diseases.

Image Credit: CC0

Jump to section

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
WASH Research

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Image credit
Public Domain

Speaking of Medicine PLOS Wash Collection for UN World Toilet Day 2016
November 18, 2016 Peter Hotez, Serap Aksoy, Nathaniel Gore, Paul Simpson, Larry Peiperl
Image credit
CC0

PLOS Medicine PLOS Medicine and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: A Committed Relationship
March 18, 2014 The PLOS Medicine Editors
Image credit
Public Domain

PLOS Medicine Continuity in Drinking Water Supply
October 27, 2015 Clarissa Brocklehurst, Tom Slaymaker
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0002439

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Integration of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for the Prevention and Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Rationale for Inter-Sectoral Collaboration
September 26, 2013 Matthew C. Freeman, Stephanie Ogden, Julie Jacobson, Daniel Abbott, David G. Addiss, Asrat G. Amnie, Colin Beckwith, Sandy Cairncross, Rafael Callejas, Jack M. Colford Jr, Paul M. Emerson, Alan Fenwick, Rebecca Fishman, Kerry Gallo, Jack Grimes, Gagik Karapetyan, Brooks Keene, Patrick J. Lammie, Chad MacArthur, Peter Lochery, Helen Petach, Jennifer Platt, Sarina Prabasi, Jan Willem Rosenboom, Sharon Roy, Darren Saywell, Lisa Schechtman, Anupama Tantri, Yael Velleman, Jürg Utzinger
Image credit
WaterAid/Layton Thompson

PLOS Medicine Interpreting the Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) Findings on Sanitation, Hygiene, and Diarrhea
May 3, 2016 Jonny Crocker, Jamie Bartram
Image credit
Public Domain

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases The Hygiene Hypothesis and Its Inconvenient Truths about Helminth Infections
September 15, 2016 Neima Briggs, Jill Weatherhead, K. Jagannadha Sastry, Peter J. Hotez
Image credit
CC0

PLOS Medicine Scaling up Rural Sanitation in India
August 26, 2014 Clarissa Brocklehurst

WASH Research

Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004937

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices regarding Diarrhea and Cholera following an Oral Cholera Vaccination Campaign in the Solomon Islands
August 22, 2016 Eleanor Burnett, Tenneth Dalipanda, Divi Ogaoga, Jenny Gaiofa, Gregory Jilini, Alison Halpin, Vance Dietz, Kashmira Date, Eric Mintz, Terri Hyde, Kathleen Wannemuehler, Catherine Yen
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004909

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Ivermectin Treatment and Sanitation Effectively Reduce Strongyloides stercoralis Infection Risk in Rural Communities in Cambodia
August 22, 2016 Armelle Forrer, Virak Khieu, Christian Schindler, Fabian Schär, Hanspeter Marti, Meng Chuor Char, Sinuon Muth, Peter Odermatt
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0160572

PLOS ONE Who Delivers without Water? A Multi Country Analysis of Water and Sanitation in the Childbirth Environment
August 17, 2016 Giorgia Gon, María Clara Restrepo-Méndez, Oona M. R. Campbell, Aluísio J. D. Barros, Susannah Woodd, Lenka Benova, Wendy J. Graham
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0158490

PLOS ONE High-Resolution Spatial Distribution and Estimation of Access to Improved Sanitation in Kenya
July 12, 2016 Peng Jia, John D. Anderson, Michael Leitner, Richard Rheingans
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1002010

PLOS Medicine Sanitation and Hygiene-Specific Risk Factors for Moderate-to-Severe Diarrhea in Young Children in the Global Enteric Multicenter Study, 2007–2011: Case-Control Study
May 3, 2016 Kelly K. Baker, Ciara E. O’Reilly, Myron M. Levine, Karen L. Kotloff, James P. Nataro, Tracy L. Ayers, Tamer H. Farag, Dilruba Nasrin, William C. Blackwelder, Yukun Wu, Pedro L. Alonso, Robert F. Breiman, Richard Omore, Abu S. G. Faruque, Sumon Kumar Das, Shahnawaz Ahmed, Debasish Saha, Samba O. Sow, Dipika Sur, Anita K. M. Zaidi, Fahreen Quadri, Eric D. Mintz
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0151645

PLOS ONE A Global Perspective on Drinking-Water and Sanitation Classification: An Evaluation of Census Content
March 17, 2016 Weiyu Yu, Nicola A. Wardrop, Robert E. S. Bain, Yanzhao Lin, Ce Zhang, Jim A. Wright
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004515

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases School Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, Soil-Transmitted Helminths, and Schistosomes: National Mapping in Ethiopia
March 8, 2016 Jack E. T. Grimes, Gemechu Tadesse, Kalkidan Mekete, Yonas Wuletaw, Abeba Gebretsadik, Michael D. French, Wendy E. Harrison, Lesley J. Drake, Iain A. Gardiner, Elodie Yard, Michael R. Templeton
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004504

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Have You Heard of Schistosomiasis? Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Nampula Province, Mozambique
March 4, 2016 Christian Rassi, Dan Kajungu, Sandrine Martin, Jorge Arroz, Jamie Tallant, Celine Zegers de Beyl, Helen Counihan, James N. Newell, Anna Phillips, Jane Whitton, Artur Manuel Muloliwa, Kirstie Graham
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004469

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Risk of Intestinal Parasitic Infections in People with Different Exposures to Wastewater and Fecal Sludge in Kampala, Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study
March 3, 2016 Samuel Fuhrimann, Mirko S. Winkler, Narcis B. Kabatereine, Edridah M. Tukahebwa, Abdulla A. Halage, Elizeus Rutebemberwa, Kate Medlicott, Christian Schindler, Jürg Utzinger, Guéladio Cissé
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004346

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases The Ecological Dynamics of Fecal Contamination and Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi A in Municipal Kathmandu Drinking Water
January 6, 2016 Abhilasha Karkey, Thibaut Jombart, Alan W. Walker, Corinne N. Thompson, Andres Torres, Sabina Dongol, Nga Tran Vu Thieu, Duy Pham Thanh, Dung Tran Thi Ngoc, Phat Voong Vinh, Andrew C. Singer, Julian Parkhill, Guy Thwaites, Buddha Basnyat, Neil Ferguson, Stephen Baker
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004256

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases The Interaction of Deworming, Improved Sanitation, and Household Flooring with Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection in Rural Bangladesh
December 1, 2015 Jade Benjamin-Chung, Arifa Nazneen, Amal K. Halder, Rashidul Haque, Abdullah Siddique, Muhammed Salah Uddin, Kim Koporc, Benjamin F. Arnold, Alan E. Hubbard, Leanne Unicomb, Stephen P. Luby, David G. Addiss, John M. Colford Jr.
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001892

PLOS Medicine Upgrading a Piped Water Supply from Intermittent to Continuous Delivery and Association with Waterborne Illness: A Matched Cohort Study in Urban India
October 27, 2015 Ayse Ercumen, Benjamin F. Arnold, Emily Kumpel, Zachary Burt, Isha Ray, Kara Nelson, John M. Colford Jr.
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001893

PLOS Medicine Water Supply Interruptions and Suspected Cholera Incidence: A Time-Series Regression in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
October 27, 2015 Aurélie Jeandron, Jaime Mufitini Saidi, Alois Kapama, Manu Burhole, Freddy Birembano, Thierry Vandevelde, Antonio Gasparrini, Ben Armstrong, Sandy Cairncross, Jeroen H. J. Ensink
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0004111

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Effect of Poor Access to Water and Sanitation As Risk Factors for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection: Selectiveness by the Infective Route
September 30, 2015 Adriana Echazú, Daniela Bonanno, Marisa Juarez, Silvana P. Cajal, Viviana Heredia, Silvia Caropresi, Ruben O. Cimino, Nicolas Caro, Paola A. Vargas, Gladys Paredes, Alejandro J. Krolewiecki
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001851

PLOS Medicine Risk of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes among Women Practicing Poor Sanitation in Rural India: A Population-Based Prospective Cohort Study
July 7, 2015 Bijaya K. Padhi, Kelly K. Baker, Ambarish Dutta, Oliver Cumming, Matthew C. Freeman, Radhanatha Satpathy, Bhabani S. Das, Pinaki Panigrahi
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001837

PLOS Medicine Efficacy of Handwashing with Soap and Nail Clipping on Intestinal Parasitic Infections in School-Aged Children: A Factorial Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
June 9, 2015 Mahmud Abdulkader Mahmud, Mark Spigt, Afework Mulugeta Bezabih, Ignacio Lopez Pavon, Geert-Jan Dinant, Roman Blanco Velasco
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0122244

PLOS ONE Reducing Sexual Violence by Increasing the Supply of Toilets in Khayelitsha, South Africa: A Mathematical Model
April 29, 2015 Gregg S. Gonsalves, Edward H. Kaplan, A. David Paltiel
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0114699

PLOS ONE Does Global Progress on Sanitation Really Lag behind Water? An Analysis of Global Progress on Community- and Household-Level Access to Safe Water and Sanitation
December 11, 2014 Oliver Cumming, Mark Elliott, Alycia Overbo, Jamie Bartram
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pone.0106738

PLOS ONE Where There Is No Toilet: Water and Sanitation Environments of Domestic and Facility Births in Tanzania
September 5, 2014 Lenka Benova, Oliver Cumming, Bruce A. Gordon, Moke Magoma, Oona M. R. Campbell
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001709

PLOS Medicine The Effect of India’s Total Sanitation Campaign on Defecation Behaviors and Child Health in Rural Madhya Pradesh: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
August 26, 2014 Sumeet R. Patil, Benjamin F. Arnold, Alicia L. Salvatore, Bertha Briceno, Sandipan Ganguly, John M. Colford Jr, Paul J. Gertler
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001700

PLOS Medicine Hand Sanitiser Provision for Reducing Illness Absences in Primary School Children: A Cluster Randomised Trial
August 12, 2014 Patricia Priest, Joanne McKenzie, Rick Audas, Marion Poore, Cheryl Brunton, Lesley Reeves
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pntd.0002945

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Exploring the Relationship between Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection: A Demonstration of Two Recursive Partitioning Tools
June 12, 2014 Katherine Gass, David G. Addiss, Matthew C. Freeman
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001626

PLOS Medicine Geographical Inequalities in Use of Improved Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation across Sub-Saharan Africa: Mapping and Spatial Analysis of Cross-sectional Survey Data
April 8, 2014 Rachel L. Pullan, Matthew C. Freeman, Peter W. Gething, Simon J. Brooker
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001620

PLOS Medicine Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
March 25, 2014 Eric C. Strunz, David G. Addiss, Meredith E. Stocks, Stephanie Ogden, Jürg Utzinger, Matthew C. Freeman
Image credit
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001605

PLOS Medicine Effect of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene on the Prevention of Trachoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
February 25, 2014 Meredith E. Stocks, Stephanie Ogden, Danny Haddad, David G. Addiss, Courtney McGuire, Matthew C. Freeman