A Method for Rapidly Assessing Context in Urban Communities to Optimise Public Health Interventions: The Case of Water Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan African Cities

Public health interventions need to be adapted to context. Making sense of contextual similarities and differences across urban communities is complex, including for water and sanitation infrastructure involving both formal and informal installations and shifting use over space and time.  To support the tailoring of interventions, this project seeks to adapt a rapid qualitative assessment approach called ‘Broad Brush Surveys’ (BBS) and an associated set of meta-indicators developed by social scientists in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Working with water engineers, BBS will be used to assess the local context in four urban communities in Zambia and South Africa for the purpose of informing better water and sanitation infrastructure interventions. 

Research Team: Dr Virginia Bond, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Dr Graeme Hoddinott, Stellenbosch University; Professor Heinz Jacobs, Stellenbosch University; Dr Erastus Mwanaumo, University of Zambia; Professor Janet Seeley, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Dr Vanessa Speight, University of Sheffield