Pragmatic water and health research in a complex emergency: Learnings and way forward

Karin Gallandat, Jaime Mufitini Saidi, Baron Bashige Rumedeka, Damien Machuel, Audrey Seon, Espoir Bwenge Malembaka, Patrick Musole Bugeme, Esther German, Didier Bompangue, Chloe Hutchins, Jackie Knee, Andrew Azman and Oliver Cumming

PLOS Water, 2026, vol. 5, issue 10, 1-5

Abstract: Climate change is straining water and sanitation services (WSS), leading to disruptions that threaten public health. In low-income and fragile contexts, there is an urgent need to increase investments in WSS, as well as to enhance efficiency in the utilisation of available financial resources. Operational research can help optimise future investments in WSS. In this perspective, we share our experience carrying out research embedded within a large-scale water supply infrastructure improvement programme in an urban, cholera-endemic area in South Kivu (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Through the lens of this concrete example, we highlight the need for rigorous research on higher quality drinking water services in low-income and fragile countries, discuss how multi-stakeholder research partnerships and pragmatic methods can contribute to the generation of rigorous evidence where it is most needed, and illustrate the role of research in strengthening capacities for both science and practice.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000646 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/water/article/file?id=10 ... 00646&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pwat00:0000646

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000646

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS Water from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by water ().