On the last note, it's different from the British stool chart. It's basically a bar diagram where the caregivers a) track diarrhea episodes, and then b) compare it to figures from a healthy population. In the process, the caregiver gets to see a) how their children is doing compared to the healthy norm, and/or b) how use of chlorine tablets can curb diarrhea incidence.

Dear Elisabeth,

Thanks so much for your kind response! Do appreciate it! Item-wise response below:

Partners: NGOs eager to test it out in the field and amenable to a rigorous impact evaluation.

Location: Since we have some evidence that it works in Pakistan, we want to trial it in a different country so as to assess external validity. But, admittedly, it was a pilot, so even a larger trial in a different region in Pakistan might make sense.

New questions: What's driving the impact? Is it just 'salience' - the tracking of diarrhea episodes itself helps place the issue in the caregiver's radar? Or, does the 'anchoring' - comparison to a healthy norm - help as well? Would it work in other countries?

Link w/ Evidence Action: No formal connection. They just hosted the blog post. It was funded by NSF, US.

Wiki article: The evidence base isn't that strong yet, hence the search for funding and partners.

Thanks again and looking forward to hearing back from you on possible ways forward.

Pleasure,

Akib

Dear Akib,

This sounds very interesting! I love it when health messages and sanitation messages go hand in hand and ask for the same type of behaviour change in an integrated way (e.g. handwashing or drinking water treatment tablets).

Please tell us a bit more what you are looking for? What kind of partnering do you have in mind and in which countries?
you said:
The first trial, in Pakistan, has generated some pretty encouraging results and led to new questions that are worth looking into in order to enhance its efficacy.

Could you tell us a bit more what these new questions are?
And what is the link with Evidence Action exactly?

By the way, have you thought about creating a Wikipedia article about the poop chart to make it better known (if there are enough references about it)? Or maybe it could be added into the Bristol stool chart (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale) as the two are probably related?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear all,

Ali (Akram) from Pakistan and I are looking for research funds to team up with NGOs that work in WASH and are eager to partner w/ researchers to trial new and innovative solutions. Would really appreciate any leads!

Context: We are looking to test Ali's Info-tool (aka 'poop chart') in a new context. Put very crudely, Info-tool enables HHs to do pre-post comparisons of diarrhea incidence with respect to adoption of water purification tablets, thereby helping them learn the benefits, which is a fundamental challenge in promoting use of cheap preventative health technologies.

The first trial, in Pakistan, has generated some pretty encouraging results and led to new questions that are worth looking into in order to enhance its efficacy. The blog post linked below further illustrates the project.
www.evidenceaction.org/blog-full/new-way...-do-poop-charts-work

Would more than welcome any thoughts and/or suggestions. Thanks in advance!