WASHTED continues to support efforts to improve Guardian Waiting Shelters (GWS) as safe, hygienic, and dignified spaces for caregivers and patients. Through applied research and collaboration with health sector partners, the work focuses on improving water, sanitation, hygiene conditions, and shelter design to enhance wellbeing, reduce health risks, and strengthen maternal and community health outcomes in Malawi.

Understanding what households value in handwashing soap is the spark that can transform handwashing behaviour

Using an innovative data collection approach, WASHTED and partners are uncovering household soap preferences in Chiradzulu and Blantyre districts. While soap is essential for preventing diseases, many Malawian households still face barriers related to availability, preference, and prioritisation, and not all soaps are equally motivating to use for handwashing. In Phase 2 of this study, now underway, our team is working with adult women and men, adolescent girls and boys, and caregivers of people with disabilities to test, compare, and rank different types of soap.

At WASHTED, we turn complex challenges into clear, actionable solutions.

Our latest success story: we were selected to lead the formative study for the Tiwoloka Project, a collaboration with WaterAid Malawi, CARE, and FAWEMA, aimed at improving education and nutrition outcomes among children.

 What we delivered: Trained a team of 10 skilled enumerators Collected data through checklists, observations, interviews and focus group discussions across five districts (Mulanje, Thyolo, Chiradzulu, Ntcheu, Lilongwe) Gathered insights from learners, parents, teachers, and key sector staff in education, health, social welfare and nutrition

 What’s next?: Using a Behaviour‑Centred Design framework, we’ll co‑create context‑specific WASH and nutrition interventions for primary schools, ECD centres and communities.

WASHTED at the First National Public Health Research Dissemination Conference

WASHTED participated in the First National Public Health Research Dissemination Conference, held from 29–31 October 2025 at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC). The conference was organised by the Public Health Institute of Malawi (PHIM) under the theme Advancing public health research for building resilient and sustainable systems.

KUHeS Research Dissemination Conference

WASHTED participated in the KUHeS Research Dissemination Conference (RDC), engaging with researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to share evidence addressing public and environmental health challenges in Malawi.

WASHTED team members presented research across key themes, including water, sanitation and hygiene, environmental health, and community wellbeing, contributing to knowledge exchange and interdisciplinary dialogue aimed at strengthening research uptake and impact. The conference provided an important platform for showcasing applied research and reinforcing collaboration between academic institutions and health sector stakeholders.

Changing Habits, Changing Lives: A School’s Journey to Better Sanitation

From 1st october 2025, in one of Blantyre’s primary schools, a quiet transformation is taking place. What started as a few concerned conversations about the state of the toilets has now grown into a movement of creativity, and change led by learners themselves. The NIHR Global Health Research Group on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, in collaboration with partners from MUBAS (through WASHTED), Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), and the University of Strathclyde, is piloting a Trial of Improved Practices (TIPs) to make school toilets cleaner, safer, and more welcoming.