Evaluation of facial cleanliness and environmental improvement activities: Lessons learned from Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

• Published in: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Angelia M Sanders, Ruth Dixon, Logan Stuck, Michaela Kelly, Geordie Woods, Edridah M Muheki, Gilbert Baayenda, Michael Masika, Holystone Kafanikhale, Upendo Mwingira, Leah Wohlgemuth
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009962; https://doaj.org/article/d988b262469840b1b80916bab8f5d8e7

The World Health Organization promotes the SAFE (Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness, and Environmental improvements) strategy for trachoma control and prevention. The F&E components of the strategy focus on promotion of healthy hygiene and sanitation behaviors. In order to monitor F&E activities implemented across villages and schools in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, an F&E Monitoring and Evaluation (FEME) framework was developed to track quarterly program outputs and to provide the basis for a pre and post evaluation of the activities. Results showed an increase in knowledge at the school and household levels, and in some cases, an increase in presence of hand/face washing stations. However, this did not always result in a change in trachoma prevention behaviors such as facial cleanliness or keeping compounds free of human feces. The results highlight that the F&E programs were effective in increasing awareness of trachoma prevention but not able to translate that knowledge into changes in behavior during the time between pre and post-surveys. This study also indicates the potential to improve the data collection and survey design and notes that the period of intervention was not long enough to measure significant changes.