WHAT HUMANITARIAN NEED IS BEING ADDRESSED?

WHAT IS THE INNOVATIVE SOLUTION BEING ADOPTED AND HOW WILL IT IMPROVE EXISTING HUMANITARIAN PRACTICE?

Project SMaRT involves two separate MSF/BRAC-run Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTPs) processing excreta from communal latrines and clinical settings. The project is dedicated to implementing practical, innovative adaptations and interventions to address inconsistencies and shortcomings associated with existing lime treatment approaches. Our key focus areas include:

1. Development of Novel Field-Based Kits: We are actively working on creating field-based kits to establish and characterise available lime quality.
2. Production of Simplified Dosing Protocols: Our team is developing simplified dosing protocols based on available lime content and microorganism survival, reducing uncertainties surrounding lime dosing.
3. Assessment of Pathogen Removal: Through laboratory and field-based microbe kits, we assess pathogen removal, ensuring effective treatment.
4. Suitability of Lime in Healthcare Settings: We explore the potential suitability of lime for managing and controlling excreta in healthcare settings, particularly during disease outbreaks like cholera.

These activities are designed to ensure that lime can be optimised for rapid, cost-effective excreta management during the acute phase of emergencies. Lime serves as a readily deployable, reliable emergency back-up to complement longer-term biological treatment during the stabilisation phase and beyond.

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT? 

Field-based lime purity kits and associated protocols (diagrammatic handbooks) will be produced following lab-based development at the University of Brighton and further optimised following deployment in Cox’s Bazar. Microbe test kits will be adapted for use with faecal sludge from domestic and healthcare sources and protocols for their field-based deployment developed. Monitoring and evaluation of user-friendliness and efficacy of the field-based tools will be assessed by treatment staff on the ground and optimised via iterative improvements.

Controlled lab-based survival studies involving pathogen surrogates (Vibrio’s, phages and indicator organism) combined with assessments of lime purity will result in the simplified lime dosing and publication of guidance material (handbook, graphical instruction sheets). Outputs including a lessons-learned document (following user-feedback) and peer reviewed journal submissions describing the survival studies, field-based monitoring and lime suitability will also be produced and made available to regional/international humanitarian actors via existing WaSH platforms and forums (Octopus, GWC).