Tarique Md Nurul Huda

Tarique joined LSHTM in 2012 to commence his SHARE-funded PhD in faecal contamination of household environments. A seasoned researcher with more than seven years experience in teaching and managing research projects, he also holds a Masters in Public Health (with an award for best overall performance) from BRAC University, Bangladesh and a degree in Physiotherapy from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prior to joining LSHTM, Tarique worked for a range of organisations including the BHP Institute, BRAC University's public health school and, SHARE partner, ICDDR,B.

Role of Sanitation in Preventing Contamination of the Domestic Environment and Protecting Health

There are two important questions in relation to improving sanitation, answers to these questions are critical for future sanitation policy, but have so far remained elusive. Firstly, what is the minimum sanitation technology to prevent environmental contamination? There is very little available evidence, to support the different rungs of the sanitation ladder, both in terms of preventing environmental contamination, as well as guaranteeing better health. Secondly, do the benefits of sanitation critically depend on neighbourhood level sanitation coverage?

The study aimed to address the above-mentioned questions through an observational study using a combination of analysing secondary data from an existing study, as well as collection of additional primary data. Secondary data analysis was undertaken to assess the effect of moving up the sanitation ladder from one rung to the next one, on diarrhoea in under 5s. The primary data collection included formative research to identify suitable measures of environmental contamination, followed by piloting of the measures of environmental contamination. Then the main study was conducted to assess the effect of sanitation access (sanitation ladder) in the household and in the neighbourhood, on household environmental contamination.