Evidence-based targeted water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to reduce cholera in hotspots in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Effective targeted water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions are urgently needed to reduce cholera hotspots globally. Household members of cholera patients have been found to be at a 100 times higher risk of developing cholera than the general population. To reduce cholera among this population, our research group recently developed the Cholera Hospital Based Intervention for 7 Days (CHoBI7), a targeted WASH intervention which promotes handwashing with soap and water treatment for cholera patients and their household. 

A study has shown that this targeted WASH intervention substantially reduced cholera and led to sustained improvements in handwashing with soap and stored drinking water quality 12 months post-intervention. 

We will build on this work and leverage on our current WASH activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We will investigate cholera transmission in cholera patient households and develop and evaluate a targeted WASH intervention to reduce cholera among this high-risk population in South Kivu, DRC.