{"id":14168,"date":"2025-06-27T10:10:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/dighr\/?p=14168"},"modified":"2025-07-07T08:50:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T12:50:03","slug":"hwe-lab-kicks-off-new-projects-in-uganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/dighr\/hwe-lab-kicks-off-new-projects-in-uganda\/","title":{"rendered":"Humanitarian Water Engineering Lab Kicks Off New Projects in Uganda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This June, researchers from the Humanitarian Water Engineering (HWE) Lab at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research travelled to Uganda to launch two new humanitarian health research collaborations in crisis-affected communities in Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Syed Imran Ali, James Brown,<\/strong> and Michael De Santi <\/strong>visited the Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in western Uganda to kick off a year-long project that aims to link water quality monitoring and health risk assessment, in partnership with the Nsamizi Training Institute of Social Development. Nsamizi is a Ugandan NGO and the lead WASH implementing partner for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at Kyaka II. The project is funded through a Connected Minds seed grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The core objective of the research is to develop a machine learning\u2013enabled Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (ML-QMRA) model to help optimize water treatment by estimating the risk of waterborne diseases among water users\u2014a long-standing gap in the emergency WASH sector.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A key milestone of the visit was a co-design workshop held on June 5th at Kyaka II, jointly facilitated by Nsamizi and the HWE Lab team. This workshop brought together representatives from UNHCR, Uganda\u2019s Office of the Prime Minister, WASH and health sector partners, and other local stakeholders to collectively develop a shared diagnosis of the settlement\u2019s water-related challenges. Insights from this session directly informed the design of the research monitoring framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the workshop, the team delivered a weeklong, hands-on training program for Nsamizi staff on a new monitoring framework designed to trace water quality from source to point-of-use across Kyaka II\u2019s complex treatment and distribution system. Participants included water system operators, data collectors, and graduate trainees. The training covered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n