ReviewEnvironmental health perspectives2021
The Applications of Implementation Science in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Research and Practice.
Review in Environmental health perspectives, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 26 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of measures taken by governments to support hand hygiene in community settings: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2025Pooled it
- Acceptability measures of water, sanitation and hygiene interventions in low- and middle-income countries, a systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Interventions to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene for preventing soil-transmitted helminth infection.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Malaria and Helminthic Co-Infection during Pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Understanding the Effectiveness of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions: A Counterfactual Simulation Approach to Generalizing the Outcomes of Intervention Trials.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Trial
- WASH interventions and child diarrhea at the interface of climate and socioeconomic position in Bangladesh.Nature communications · 2024Trial
- School water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) intervention to improve malnutrition, dehydration, health literacy, and handwashing: a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Metro Manila, Philippines.BMC public health · 2022Trial
- Raising the bar: translating global guidelines to achieve local policy on cholera elimination in Zambia-a qualitative case study.Health research policy and systems · 2026Article
- Evaluating the acceptability of a portable handwashing intervention (the Spatap) in three Fijian communities, a mixed-methods study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Conducting process evaluations of WASH interventions: a scoping review of design approaches and indicators in low- and middle-income countries.Implementation science communications · 2026Article
- Socioecological drivers of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) choices: A qualitative analysis of maternal perspectives in northwest Ecuador.PLOS water · 2026Article
- Global capacity for implementing the Eight Practical Steps to achieve universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in healthcare facilities: a qualitative study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Using machine learning to identify subgroups with the highest expected benefit in a population-based water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutrition intervention.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Who participates in 'participatory design' of WASH infrastructure: A mixed-methods process evaluation.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Power and interest levels in safely managed sanitation services in Zambia: A stakeholder mapping.PloS one · 2025Article
- TIDieR-WASH: A Guideline for Reporting Implementation of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): the evolution of a global health and development sector.BMJ global health · 2024Review
- Reinforcing Feedbacks for Sustainable Implementation of Rural Drinking-Water Treatment Technology.ACS ES&T water · 2024Article
- Systematic re-review of WASH trials to assess women's engagement in intervention delivery and research activities.Nature water · 2024Article
- What works in sanitation promotion?Health promotion international · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDelivery of high quality, at-scale, and sustained services is a major challenge in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector, made more challenging by a dearth of evidence-based models for adaption across contexts in low- and middle-income countries.
objectiveWe aim to describe the value of implementation science (IS) for the WASH sector and provide recommendations for its application.
methodsWe review concepts from the growing field of IS-defined as the "scientific study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of research findings and other evidence-based practices into routine practice, and hence, to improve the quality and effectiveness of health services"-and we translate their relevance to WASH research, learning, and delivery. DISCUSSION: IS provides a suite of methods and theories to systematically develop, evaluate, and scale evidence-based interventions. Though IS thinking has been applied most notably in health services delivery in high-income countries, there have been applications in low-income settings in fields such as HIV/AIDS and nutrition. Expanding the application of IS to environmental health, specifically WASH interventions, would respond to the complexity of sustainable service delivery. WASH researchers may want to consider applying IS guidelines to their work, including adapting pragmatic research models, using established IS frameworks, and cocreating knowledge with local stakeholders. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7762.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.