Rethinking Sustainability in WASH: Lessons from Ethiopia
In 2023 in Adwa, a town in northern Ethiopia, a water point stood broken. Children continued walking long distances for water. Hands went unwashed before meals. And in the health facility nearby, staff struggled to maintain basic hygiene standards without reliable access to water. It is the kind of situation that rarely makes headlines, but […]
From Snail Mapping to Community Action
Across rural Ethiopia, rivers, ponds, and irrigation canals are part of daily life. Communities rely on these water sources for washing, bathing, farming, and play. But these same waters can also carry invisible risks. Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease transmitted when people come into contact with freshwater where infected snails release parasites. Repeated exposure can […]
Empowering local surveillance through science
Eliminating schistosomiasis requires more than treating infection. It requires interrupting transmission at its source. In Ethiopia, where millions rely on rivers, ponds, and irrigation canals for daily life, repeated exposure to infested water sustains the cycle of infection despite years of Mass Drug Administration (MDA). While MDA has reduced the burden of disease and protected […]
The Journey to the World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis
It took four days to reach our first program in Darfur—traveling through three countries, crossing the border from Chad, and then driving more than 250 miles through Central and North Darfur. The effort required to get there was significant, but the journey stopped mattering the moment I sat in a small room with fifteen children […]