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Oliver Cumming

MA MSc

Assistant Professor

Room
411

LSHTM
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom

Tel.
0044 (0) 207 927 2617

I serve as the Director of the Environmental Health Group which is the focus of the School's work on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health and currently includes approximately 30 researchers and support staff working on range of different areas of research. I am the Principal Investigator for a number of studies in different countries, including Mozambique, Kenya, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I also serve as the Research Director of the SHARE Research Programme Consortium - an ten-year, multi-country, research partnership to deliver research and capacity to strengthen sanitation policy and programmes in low and middle income countries. I have worked in various regions of the world, collaborating with a range of research and implementing organisations, and providing policy advice to different governments and multilateral agencies. 

My research focuses on the epidemiology of water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases. I am currently working on a number of trials to evaluate the effects of these interventions on different child health outcomes, including enteric infections, child growth and development, and oral vaccine performance. My main projects include:

The MapSan Study in Maputo, Mozambique, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Saúde - Centro de Investigação e Treino em Saúde da Polana Caniço (INS-CISPOC), in Mozambique, and the University of North Carolina in the US. This study aims to evaluate the impact of sanitation on various health outcomes among children living in dense urban areas.

The SaniVac trial  in Maputo, Mozambique, which is supported by the Centers for Disease Control Foundation, and in collaboration with INS-CISPOC in Mozambique, and the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and the Georgia Insititute of Technology in the US. This is a controlled cohort study to assess the effect of sanitation and concurrent enteric infection on oral rotavirus immunogenicity. 

The Safe Start trial in Kisumu, Kenya, which is supported by the UK Department for International Development, and in collaboration with Great Lakes University Kisumu, in Kenya, and the University of Iowa, in the US. This is a cluster-randomised controlled trial for the effect of an infant food hygiene intervention on enteric infections. 

The Uvira trial  in Uvira, DRC, which is supported by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Veolia Foundation. This is a randomised stepped wedge evaluation of the effect of improved water supply on cholera incidence.

The Urban Infant Foodscape project in Maputo, Mozambique, and Nairobi, Kenya, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development, in collaboration with INS-CISPOC in Mozambique and the International Lifestock Research Institute in Kenya. This is a multi-country study to identify food system-related risks for enteric infections in young children in low-income urban areas.

Affiliations

Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
Department of Disease Control

Teaching

I am a Module Organiser for the WASH & Health (3434) module and tutor/supervise students for various MSc courses. I currently have three PhD students: Lauren D'Mello-Guyett, who is looking at the role of WASH in disease outbreaks during complex emergenices, and Ian Ross, who is looking at the cost-effectiveness of sanitation interventions, and Julie Watson, who is looking at the effectiveness of hygiene interventions targeting children in humanitarian settings, who I co-supervise with Francesco Checchi, Giulia Greco, and Robert Dreibelbis, respectively.

Research

Research Area
Child health
Health outcomes
Helminths
Hygiene
Sanitation
Water
Disease control
Environmental Health
Equity
Evaluation
Gender
Disease and Health Conditions
Diarrhoeal diseases
Malnutrition
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Region
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)

Selected Publications

Effects of water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions on detection of enteropathogens and host-specific faecal markers in the environment: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.
Mertens A; Arnold BF; Benjamin-Chung J; Boehm AB; Brown J; Capone D; Clasen T; Fuhrmeister E; Grembi JA; Holcomb D
2023
The Lancet. Planetary health
Effect of a novel hygiene intervention on older children's handwashing in a humanitarian setting in Kahda district, Somalia: A cluster-randomised controlled equivalence trial.
Watson J; Amon-Tanoh MA; Deola C; Haji MA; Sheikh MR; Mohamud FA; Ali SY; MacDougall A; Cumming O
2023
International journal of hygiene and environmental health
The Lancet Commission on water, sanitation and hygiene, and health.
Amebelu A; Ban R; Bhagwan J; Brown J; Chilengi R; Chandler CI; Colford Jr. JM; Cumming O; Curtis V; Elvy Evans B
2021
Lancet
Measuring and valuing broader impacts in public health: Development of a sanitation-related quality of life instrument in Maputo, Mozambique.
Ross I; Greco G; Opondo C; Adriano Z; Nala R; Brown J; Dreibelbis R; Cumming O
2021
Health Economics
Prevention and control of cholera with household and community water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions: A scoping review of current international guidelines.
D'Mello-Guyett L; Gallandat K; Van den Bergh R; Taylor D; Bulit G; Legros D; Maes P; Checchi F; Cumming O
2020
PloS one
Distribution of hygiene kits during a cholera outbreak in Kasaï-Oriental, Democratic Republic of Congo: a process evaluation.
D'Mello-Guyett L; Greenland K; Bonneville S; D'hondt R; Mashako M; Gorski A; Verheyen D; Van den Bergh R; Maes P; Checchi F
2020
Conflict and health
The implications of three major new trials for the effect of water, sanitation and hygiene on childhood diarrhea and stunting: a consensus statement.
Cumming O; Arnold BF; Ban R; Clasen T; Esteves Mills J; Freeman MC; Gordon B; Guiteras R; Howard G; Hunter PR
2019
BMC MEDICINE
Burden of disease from inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene for selected adverse health outcomes: An updated analysis with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
Prüss-Ustün A; Wolf J; Bartram J; Clasen T; Cumming O; Freeman MC; Gordon B; Hunter PR; Medlicott K; Johnston R
2019
International journal of hygiene and environmental health
Child's play: Harnessing play and curiosity motives to improve child handwashing in a humanitarian setting.
Watson J; Dreibelbis R; Aunger R; Deola C; King K; Long S; Chase RP; Cumming O
2018
International journal of hygiene and environmental health
Getting the basic rights - the role of water, sanitation and hygiene in maternal and reproductive health: a conceptual framework.
Campbell OMR; Benova L; Gon G; Afsana K; Cumming O
2014
Tropical medicine & international health
See more Publications