Can We Know Better?

Abstract

This book is open access. Beginning on page 37 there is an interesting section Out of the closet: blind spots of WASH. Some excerpts: Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is a source of examples of past and present (though diminishing) blind spots and biases. Infant poo. Andres Hueso has called infant poo the blind spot of blind spots (pers. comm.). Explanations can be sought in terms of biases: cleaning children’s faeces is overwhelmingly women’s work and women often lack time and resources to deal with it hygienically; it is less smelly and disgusting than adults’; it is widely regarded as harmless, although it carries a heavier pathogen load than that of adults. Fecally Transmitted Infections (FTIs) and undernutrition: a classic blind spot. The blind spot of the link between FTIs and undernutrition shows how a net of interlocking motivations and biases can conceal a powerful relationship. Diarrhoea: from measurability to reductionism. Diarrhoeas have been studied far more than other FTIs. Nothing should detract from their seriousness. However, their relative significance needs to be qualified. Their dramatic clinical manifestations, their visibility, the ease with which they can be recorded, and the fact that they can kill, have led to their receiving attention to the relative neglect of the other FTIs Incontinence. The International Continence Society estimates that urinary and/or faecal incontinence affects one in four women over the age of 35, and one in 10 adult men. It increases with age. Particularly liable to incontinence are men, women, and children with physical disabilities and/or learning difficulties, and women and adolescent girls who have recently given birth or who have fistula. Long overlooked by WASH professionals, it is only in 2016 coming to be recognized as a widespread physical and social problem. Fecal sludge management. Dealing with the contents of toilets not connected to sewers was another neglected topic until two to three years ago when it rose sharply on the agenda of international WASH conferences, particularly for urban contexts