Publications by authors named "Mulat Woreta"

Many water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions target improvements in personal hygiene behaviors. Yet measuring personal hygiene behaviors is a challenge due to a lack of reliable, valid, objective, and simple-to-use approaches. The purpose of this study was to examine differences between two types of hygiene outcome measures and their ability to detect relationships between WASH-related behavioral factors and behaviors.

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Behaviors related to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are key drivers of infectious disease transmission, and experiences of WASH are potential influencers of mental well-being. Important knowledge gaps exist related to the content and delivery of effective WASH programs and their associated health impacts, particularly within the contexts of government programs implemented at scale. We developed and tested a demand-side intervention called Andilaye, which aimed to change behaviors related to sanitation, personal hygiene, and household environmental sanitation.

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Personal hygiene practices, including facewashing and handwashing, reduce transmission of pathogens, but are difficult to measure. Using color theory principles, we developed and tested a novel metric that generates quantitative measures of facial and hand cleanliness, proxy indicators of personal hygiene practices. In this cross-sectional study, conventional qualitative cleanliness metrics (e.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study explores the impact of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) on infectious diseases and mental well-being, highlighting gaps in effective WASH programming and the need for community-based interventions in rural Ethiopia.
  • - The intervention, named Andilaye, will be evaluated through a cluster-randomized trial involving 50 sub-districts, measuring changes in sanitation and hygiene behaviors as well as mental health outcomes over time.
  • - The research aims to address issues such as behavioral regression seen in previous sanitation initiatives, thereby providing insights into sustaining positive health behaviors in communities.
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Objective: To quantify stated preferences for latrine use and construction in Amhara, Ethiopia, using Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs).

Methods: We conducted image-based DCEs to assess preferences for latrine use (stratified by gender) and construction (among men only) in Amhara, Ethiopia. Preference was quantified using a conditional logistic model to estimate utilities and corresponding odds ratios associated with a set of latrine attributes.

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Impact evaluations of water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions have demonstrated lower than expected health gains, in some cases due to low uptake and sustained adoption of interventions at a community level. These findings represent common challenges for public health and development programmes relying on collective action. One possible explanation may be low collective efficacy (CE)-perceptions regarding a group's ability to execute actions related to a common goal.

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