Epidemiology and Data Collection Methods for WASH in Emergencies - South Africa

The Emergency Response and Recovery Branch (ERRB) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Global water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) Cluster and UNICEF are organizing a series of trainings on basic epidemiology and data collection for partners working in WASH activities in acute and protracted emergencies.

Background: WASH interventions are critical in reducing morbidity and mortality during humanitarian emergencies where the potential for infectious disease outbreaks is high. The ability to understand the progression of an outbreak, and thereby, monitor and evaluate these interventions is essential to achieving an effective response. Furthermore, while a core set of standards and indicators for the WASH sector have been developed, there remains no clear standardized methodology to collect, analyze, and disseminate WASH data to measures these standards and indicators across organizations.

Purpose: The purpose of this training is to strengthen the epidemiologic skills of individuals responsible for the WASH activities during acute or protracted emergencies. The aim is to provide a foundation of public health epidemiology and data collection methodology in order to obtain robust and reproducible results for WASH programs and response efforts to humanitarian emergencies.

Target Audience: The target audience are country and regional level staff who are directly involved in the collection, analysis and interpretation of WASH and waterborne disease related information. For this training session, participation of staff working in Southern African countries and Anglophone West African countries will be prioritized.