@article{96271,
  keywords = {Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health},
  author = {Sanders AM and Dixon R and Stuck L and Kelly M and Woods G and Muheki EM and Baayenda G and Masika M and Kafanikhale H and Mwingira U and Wohlgemuth L},
  editor = {Ngondi JM},
  title = {Evaluation of facial cleanliness and environmental improvement activities: Lessons learned from Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda},
  abstract = {<p>The World Health Organization promotes the SAFE (Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness, and Environmental improvements) strategy for trachoma control and prevention. The F&amp;E components of the strategy focus on promotion of healthy hygiene and sanitation behaviors. In order to monitor F&amp;E activities implemented across villages and schools in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, an F&amp;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&amp;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.</p>
},
  year = {2021},
  journal = {PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases},
  volume = {15},
  pages = {e0009962},
  publisher = {Public Library of Science (PLoS)},
  issn = {1935-2735},
  url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009962&type=printable},
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0009962},
}