Online Training Programme on The SaniPath Tool: Assessing Exposure to Fecal Contamination in Urban Settings

Date: August 17-28, 2020
Last Date to apply: 07 August, 2020
Study Hours: Online (12 Hrs ) and Virtual (18 Hrs)
Language: English   

In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right, and called for international efforts to help countries to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation. In this endeavor key global organisations have developed guidelines and tools that provide a comprehensive framework for protecting and assess public health risks from unsafe sanitation management in poor urban neighbourhoods.

Exposure assessments serving as a valuable tool by systematically identifying gaps in sanitation services that result in faecal contamination of the environment and pose a hazard to the population. Exposure to WASH-related pathogens can occur along multiple exposure pathways, such as drinking water, bathing water, surface waters, ocean water, open drains, flood water, raw produce, street food, and public latrines. One such tool is SaniPath Exposure Assessment Tool, developed by the Center for Global Safe Water at Emory University, USA. The tool aims to assess exposure to faecal contamination along multiple exposure pathways in urban, low-income settings. The tool guides users in collecting information on: a) where in the environment there is contamination as well as the magnitude of contamination, and b) how people come into contact with contamination in the environment. The Tool includes a cloud-based platform to manage and monitor data collection in real-time and automatically conducts exposure analysis and synthesizes these data for community, government, and service providers’ decision-making.

Results from the Tool can help identify relevant dominant pathway(s) that contribute most to a population’s total exposure. The outputs serve as a simplified, yet informative, means of identifying priorities for sanitation investments or interventions. Till date, the SaniPath Tool has been used in 10 cities around the world. The Tool is open source and publicly available, and it is intended for municipal governments, water and sanitation utilities, development banks, non-governmental organizations, or other groups working in sanitation at a local level.

Keeping in view the need for safe sanitation to all, School of Water & Waste (AAETI), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India in partnership with Emory University, USA is organizing a online training programme on “The SaniPath Tool: Assessing Exposure to Fecal Contamination in Urban Settings” for South Asian practitioners.

The aim of this training is to provide the necessary knowledge and practice of SaniPath Tool methods for participants to confidently train others and manage a deployment of the SaniPath Tool. 

Purpose:
To provide detailed guidance on all aspects of conducting a SaniPath exposure assessment. 

Learning Outcomes of the Training

At the end of the SaniPath Training course, participants can expect to learn following:

• Participants will understand the capacity and resources needed to conduct a SaniPath assessment in their local context.
• Participants will be able to set up and train a team of staff to conduct a full deployment of the SaniPath Tool using primary data collection methods.
• Participants will be able to interpret data outputs of the SaniPath Tool, including identifying dominant pathways of exposure and understanding the contribution of behavior and environmental contamination to exposure from different pathways
• Participants will understand how data outputs from the SaniPath Tool can be used to inform programming and advocate for action from relevant stakeholders.

The modules covered during the training are as follows:

• Module 1: SaniPath Overview
• Module 2: Primary Data Collection
• Module 3: Laboratory Analysis
• Module 4: Interpreting Results
• Module 5: Evidence to Action
• Module 6: Project Management

Programme Design
Virtual sessions to be held on 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28 August between 17:30-20:30  IST
The online training programme is based on state-of-art teaching – learning tools consisting of pre-session readings, videos, PowerPoint presentations, interactive discussion of concepts, group work sessions to practice data collection methods, and quizzes to assess comprehension of material. 

Sessions will be held over a 2-week period with 3 days of virtual interactive training held each week (~3 hours each) and individual learning and assignments on remaining days. 

Target Group
Team Leads and Project Managers from the WASH, Environmental Health, Sanitation Planning, and Community Health sectors, Laboratory supervisors and technicians working in Environmental Microbiology, Municipal Water or Wastewater Management, and Sanitation.