ACEWM’s PhD Candidate Heroda Gebru Gebremedhin successfully defended her Dissertation

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Heroda Gebru Gebremedhin, a PhD candidate at the Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management, has successfully defended her dissertation titled “Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Predictors of Childhood Intestinal Parasitic Infection and Reinfection in Eastern Ethiopia.” Heroda’s research sheds light on the severe public health threat posed by intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) among children, uncovering key environmental and social drivers behind infection and reinfection rates.

Conducted as a large-scale community-based study involving 778 children in eastern Ethiopia, Heroda’s research revealed an alarming 33.7% prevalence of IPIs—primarily caused by Giardia intestinalis and Hymenolepis nana. The study identifies strong correlations between poor Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) conditions and increased IPI rates. Children of illiterate mothers were found to be 13.1 times more likely to be infected. The odds also rose sharply in households with unclean latrines (1.8 times) and open waste disposal practices (1.7 times).

A nested case-control analysis showed that children from households using point-of-use water contaminated with total coliforms or E. coli were respectively 12.6 and 14 times more likely to test positive for IPIs. Reinfection risks were strongly associated with swimming or bathing in polluted water (up to 12.6 times higher) and domestic animal ownership (4.5 times more likely).

Heroda’s findings underscore the urgent need for targeted public health interventions, improved sanitation infrastructure, safe water access, and community education to combat the ongoing cycle of infection and reinfection among vulnerable children in the region.

Heroda’s doctoral work was supervised by Prof. Negussie Deyessa from the Africa Health Sciences University, with Dr. Girmay Medhin (Addis Ababa University) and Dr. Helmut Kloos (University of California) serving as co-supervisors. The dissertation defense was chaired by Dr. Beteley Tekola (Addis Ababa University), with Dr. Seblework Mekonnen (Addis Ababa University) and Prof. Alemayehu Haddis (Jimma University) acting as internal and external examiners.

This important research is expected to contribute significantly to Ethiopia’s and the broader region’s policy and programmatic approaches in reducing parasitic disease burden through improved WASH interventions.