To achieve sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6.2) by 2030, government of Bangladesh has taken a number of initiatives to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations. However, a major challenge towards ensuring hygiene behavior is E. coli contamination in household’s (81.9%) drinking water (MICS, 2019).
In line with the government’s strategy, RED has conducted a number of studies to identify challenges in WASH sector and policy solutions to improve the implementation including a gap between knowledge and practices of handwashing with soap before eating (Rabbi and Dey, 2013); scarcity of safe water due to high level of salinity, arsenic and iron in the coastal area of Bangladesh (Dey et al. 2018; Saha et al. 2019; Saha et al. 2018); microbial contamination of drinking water from shallow tubewell due to point sources of pollution (Dey et al. 2017); lack of awareness about hygiene and cleanliness, low-cost infrastructure including tubewells, and low-quality latrines are some reasons for stemming many diseases in the rural areas (Dey et al. 2015); shifting from sanitary to unsanitary practices by removing water-seal from the latrines over the years has become a matter of concern towards the growth of sanitation coverage and non-availability of water nearby toilet for using more water in keep the toilet clean (Akter and Dey, 2014; Dey et al 2015), and resume in increasing of water-borne disease after withdrawal of periodic monitoring of hygiene behavior at household level after completion of project period (Dey eat al. 2019). Behavior Change Communication (BCC) for improving hygiene knowledge followed by community–based monitoring for hygiene practices at household have been identified as one of the effective approaches for improving handwashing practices followed by reducing risk of infectious diseases of children in rural areas of Bangladesh (Dey et al. 2019).
