Examining time-dependent effects of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions using an agent-based model

The effects of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions have been well acknowledged to reduce the risk from diarrheal disease-causing pathogens. In spite of the recognized importance of WASH interventions on the reduction of diarrheal disease, there are still gaps in the understanding of the time-varying effects of interventions. To bridge this research gap, we developed agent-based models (ABMs) of diarrheal disease transmission in a community context. In the model, infections occur via two pathways: (i) between household members within the household environment and (ii) from the community environment outside the household. To measure the effectiveness of WASH interventions, we performed global sensitivity analysis (GSA) at the macro and micro temporal scales, varying the level of intervention coverage in the community. We simulated three intervention strategies, implemented separately in the experiments. The clean drinking water intervention, sanitation intervention, and hand washing intervention had similar success rates in the long-term. The handwashing intervention had the largest immediate effect. This highlights that proper short- and long-term intervention strategies need to be considered for disease control and the effective management of limited resources.