Assessing Communication Practices and Communication Models for Personal Hygiene, Environmental Sanitation and Rural Water Use in the Central Region and Central Highlands

Project Overview

• Field: Environmental Health & Climate Change
• Duration: 11 - 12/2021
• Lead agency: Health Environment Management Agency (VIHEMA), Ministry of Health
• Implementing agency: Center for Environmental and Health Studies (CEHS)
• Location: 19 provinces in the Central region and Central Highlands; field surveys in 3 provinces representing the North Central Coast, South Central Coast and Central Highlands

Introduction

The study assessed the effectiveness of communication practices and communication models for personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and clean water use in the Central region and Central Highlands after many years of implementing the National Target Program and related programs and projects.

The findings provided evidence on changes in residents' knowledge, attitudes and practices; assessed the effectiveness of behavior-change communication models in use; and proposed solutions and communication models suited to the socio-economic, cultural and geographic conditions of the Central region and Central Highlands.

CEHS's Role

CEHS conducted the study, responsible for developing the research design, developing the assessment toolkit, organizing surveys in communities and health facilities, managing and analyzing data, and developing the communication effectiveness assessment report.

Key Activities

• Developing the research design and toolkit for assessing communication effectiveness on personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and clean water use.
• Collecting and analyzing secondary data on communication activities across 19 Central region and Central Highlands provinces for 2017–2020, combined with a cross-sectional survey in 3 representative provinces.
• Assessing residents' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP); assessing the communication capacity of health workers, village health workers and collaborators.
• Managing, cleaning and analyzing data; comparing effectiveness across communication models and ecological regions.
• Developing the communication effectiveness assessment report and proposing suitable behavior-change communication models for scale-up.

Key Results

• Completed a comprehensive assessment of communication effectiveness on personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and clean water use across 19 Central region and Central Highlands provinces.
• Found that residents' knowledge and practices regarding personal hygiene, clean water use and hygienic latrines had improved, but significant gaps remained between regions.
• Found gaps in the knowledge and hygiene-practice supervision skills of the communication workforce, particularly village health workers and collaborators.
• Assessed the effectiveness of multiple communication models in use, including CLTS, PHAST, Sanitation Marketing, OBA and PforR, analyzing the strengths, limitations and application conditions of each.
• Proposed communication models suited to the socio-economic, cultural and geographic characteristics of the Central region and Central Highlands, contributing to the effectiveness and sustainability of rural sanitation and clean water programs.