Wash'Em Coronavirus Brief and Webinar

"[T]o change handwashing behaviour we need to create an enabling environment, establish positive social norms and make it a desirable thing to do."

The global spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in public officials and mainstream media encouraging people to wash their hands with soap as regularly as possible. However, despite knowing the importance of this behaviour, people all around the world often forget or deprioritise handwashing with soap. This guide provides practical tips to encourage community-level handwashing behaviour to control and prevent the spread of coronavirus; also available is a webinar recording, along with slides and a question-and-answer guide.

The resources are part of Wash'Em, a process for rapidly designing evidence-based and context-adapted handwashing behaviour change programmes in emergencies. Wash'Em includes a set of 80 activities that can be used to promote handwashing in regions of the world where the coronavirus is spreading. To date, Wash'Em has been used in 34 humanitarian emergencies by 45 non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In each case, Wash'Em facilitated handwashing programmes to be designed in 1 week.

Available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish (access through the links below), the guide features descriptions of, and links to supportive resources for, early-stage responses, selected based on the assessment they are quick, easy, and low cost:

• Make handwashing easier (e.g., by designing handwashing infrastructure that will actually change behaviour).
• Share real experiences of the coronavirus (e.g., by interviewing people who have been exposed to the virus and who have recovered).
• Make handwashing messages surprising (e.g., by using rotating "fun" messages near the handwashing facility to cue behaviour).
• Remind people of the power of soap (e.g., by using the video below).
• Normalise and celebrate handwashing (e.g., through social media recognition).

Wash'Em observes that, in an outbreak, people normally start to wash their hands more frequently and more thoroughly because they perceive themselves to be more vulnerable to disease than usual. The goal is to support this natural instinct without creating unnecessary fear and to do so in a way that establishes handwashing as a habitual practice that persists even after the outbreak. To that end, the guide outlines a longer-term approach (for use if COVID-19 continues to spread). This involves perhaps adapting 5 Wash'Em Rapid Assessment tools for COVID-19 prevention. Details about the Wash'Em process/software are available here.

On March 23 2020, Wash'Em hosted a webinar, "Reducing the spread of COVID-19 through handwashing promotion". It features ideas and rapid actions that can be carried out by local-level actors in low- and middle-income settings. Part 1 focuses on general principles to guide the response; Part 2 includes simple actions to promote handwashing. The following resources are available:

In English:

• Click here to watch the webinar in English (28 mins, 46 secs)
• Click here to access the slides, with notes (PDF, 17 pages).
• Click here for the Wash'Em webinar Q&As (PDF, 7 pages).

In French:

• Click here to watch the webinar in French (32 mins, 2 secs)
• Click here to access the slides, with notes (PDF, 17 pages).

In Spanish:

• Click here to watch the webinar in Spanish (58 mins, 5 secs)
• Click here to access the slides, with notes (PDF, 17 pages).

Wash'Em is a collaboration between Action contre la Faim (ACF), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology). It is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).