SuperAmma Promoting Handwashing with Soap in Rural India. Adam Biran, Val Curtis, Bob Aunger LSHTM

Val Curtis Wolf Schmidt Bob Aunger Katie Greenland Adam Biran Kiruba Varadharajan Divya Rajaraman Raja Kumar Balaji Gopalan Funded by Wellcome Trust and SHARE

Germs cause disease Background Lack of evidence for effectiveness Increasing recognition of non-rational influences

Formative research in 12+ countries Experimental work – UK – When do people wash hands? – Why do they wash hands? – What could motivate handwashing?

The Challenge Promote handwashing with soap at key times No health messages No mass media Potential for scaling up – Small intervention team – Limited contact time

THE INTERVENTION

Active Ingredients Behaviour drivers – Nurture – Disgust – Norms Local role models Cues and reminders SuperAmma – Central character

Disgust : what you dont wash off you eat!

A Day in the Life of a Hand Animation of daily hand contamination

Social Norms Everyone is doing it... Pledging ceremony Stickers on pledged houses

Wall of All

Reminders – for Habit Formation Stickers in bathrooms Childrens report card (2 weeks)

Local Relevance Posters local people – Important people are doing it Video testimonials of local people – People like me are doing it

Nurture SuperAmma film – A heart-warming tale of maternal love... and handwashing

Mid-Day Meal Moral Stories School Activities

Poo tag game Childrens rally

Rewards: Gifts, Certificates, Ceremonies

She wakes up before the sun, She cleans up everyone, She brushes my teeth, Washes my face, She can cook up a meal before I can say My mom is a supermom! She washes her hands with soap, Before idli or before soup, She combs my hair, She cuts my nails, She can get me ready Before I can say My mom is a supermom! She tells me many good stuff, Some easy and some tough, wash my hands with soap after toilet, Wash my hands with soap before I eat, but she can do all this and more Before I can say My mom is a supermom! Jingle

Delivery Two mobilisers, 1 technician, 1 driver 4 days – 2 consecutive and 2 a week apart School and community events days 1 and 4

THE STUDY

Study Site Southern Andrhra Pradesh Village size Water from pumps and standpipes Soap present in all households Open defecation

Study Design Cluster randomised, controlled trial 7 village pairs matched on size 1 village from each pair randomised to receive intervention Controls receive nothing 25 households per village – Random selection from school register

Outcome Measures Behaviour change Primary outcome – % of key events when hands are washed with soap Secondary outcome – % of all handwashes using soap Data collected by structured observation 05:30 – 08:30 At baseline and 3 weeks post-intervention

Figure 2. Handwashingre and post-intervention by study arm. 2% 4% 1% 19% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Pre-interventionPost-intervention Soap use at key events intervention control Difference 16% p= handwashing with soap

18% 19% 36% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Pre-interventionPost-intervention Handwashing with soap Soap-use for all handwashes intervention control Difference 18% p= 0.001

Normative Beliefs about HWWS In this village...InterventionControl almost everyone HWWS before eating 35%8% almost everyone HWWS after defecation 36%10% People HWWS more than in other villages 98%42%

Conclusions Suggests behaviour change can be achieved Not about health Creative inputs are important Still a lot of unwashed hands For more information visit