Dr Belen Torondel-Lopez
Associate Professor
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 207 927 2934
I have a degree in Pharmacy and completed my PhD in biomedicine in the University of Valencia (Spain). In 2009 I completed a Master in Public Health in Developing Countries in LSHTM. I worked at UCL from 2004 to 2008 as a postdoctoral fellow in different biomedical research projects.
I joined the Environmental Health Group in 2009 following the completion of my Master's Degree in Public Health in Developing Countries and since then I have been involved in studies of the health impact of environmental interventions such as water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. One of my areas of expertise is to explore the association of pathogens and risk of infection associated with different hygiene and sanitation practices. I have extensive experience in implementation and management of research environmental health projects in developing countries (The Gambia, Tanzania, Vietnam, India, Bolivia).
I joined the Environmental Health Group in 2009 following the completion of my Master's Degree in Public Health in Developing Countries and since then I have been involved in studies of the health impact of environmental interventions such as water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. One of my areas of expertise is to explore the association of pathogens and risk of infection associated with different hygiene and sanitation practices. I have extensive experience in implementation and management of research environmental health projects in developing countries (The Gambia, Tanzania, Vietnam, India, Bolivia).
Affiliations
Department of Disease Control
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
Teaching
I am the IDM215 Water and Sanitation module director which is part of the distance learning course MSc Infectious Disease. This module focuses on water supply, sanitation and hygiene in low and middle income countries. In addition I provide lectures to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and Health (formerly Tropical Environmental Health module) on menstrual hygiene and evaluation of sanitation programs. I have also participated in the module Applying Principles of Public Health as practical facilitator and assignment marking. I have co-supervised four PhD students and I am currently co-supervising one. I have also supervised several master summer project thesis. I have been tutor on the MSc Public Health for Development, Public Health, One Health and Medical Microbiology master courses.
I was also the Capacity Development Manager of the SHARE research consortium , a 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 been organizing and leading trainings for field work data collection tools from 2009 in the different projects that I have been contributed. I have also been training for different microbiology techniques to laboratory staff of different projects I have been leading.
I was also the Capacity Development Manager of the SHARE research consortium , a 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 been organizing and leading trainings for field work data collection tools from 2009 in the different projects that I have been contributed. I have also been training for different microbiology techniques to laboratory staff of different projects I have been leading.
Research
My main research area of interest is menstrual hygiene (MH) in developing context. In the last 6 years I have mainly been involved in different projects aiming to understand the links between poor menstrual hygiene management and different health and social outcomes in different developing countries (India, Uganda, The Gambia, Malawi, Nepal). I conducted the first systematic review which compiles the evidence of the link between MH management and different health and social outcomes. I had led two hospital case-control studies in Odisha (India) assessing the urogenital health impact of menstrual hygiene management practices in Indian women and also a study in Gambia exploring challenges of mantaining a good MHM practices among school adolescent girls. I am leading the MEGAMBO study in the Gambia which aims to design, pilot, implementation and evaluation of a multicomponent MH intervention with the primary aim of reducing school attendance during menstrual periods. I am the WASH adviser expert on MHM that supports the preparation of other trials within LSHTM (MENISCUS study led by Professor Helen Weiss). I also collaborate with other groups at LSHTM and other universities around the world in topics related with MH. I am a member of the “MHM in Ten" initiative to advance the MHM agenda in schools between 2014 and 2024.
Research Area
Adolescent health
Disease control
Environmental Health
Evaluation
Global Health
Health outcomes
Hygiene
Public health
Reproductive health
Sanitation
Water
Development studies
Epidemiology
Microbiology
Operational research
Implementation science
Capacity development
Disease and Health Conditions
Diarrhoeal diseases
Disability
Mental health
Infectious diseases
Vector borne diseases
Sexually transmitted infections
Country
Bolivia
Gambia
Ghana
India
Malawi
Nepal
Spain
Tanzania
Uganda
Vietnam
Region
East Asia & Pacific (developing only)
Latin America & Caribbean (developing only)
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)
Selected Publications
Feasibility Study of a Menstrual Hygiene Management Intervention for People with Intellectual Impairments and Their Carers in Nepal.
2019
International journal of environmental research and public health
Experiences of capacity strengthening in sanitation and hygiene research in Africa and Asia: the SHARE Research Consortium.
2019
Health Research Policy and Systems
Assessing longer-term effectiveness of a combined household-level piped water and sanitation intervention on child diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection, soil-transmitted helminth infection and nutritional status: a matched cohort study in rural Odisha, India.
2019
International journal of epidemiology
Self-Collection of Vaginal Swabs Among Adolescent Girls in a School-Setting in East Africa.
2019
Sexually transmitted diseases
Efficacy of the SuperTowel®: An Alternative Hand-washing Product for Humanitarian Emergencies.
2019
The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Determinants of disposal of child faeces in latrines in urban slums of Odisha, India: a cross-sectional study.
2019
TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE
Developing Behaviour Change Interventions for Improving Access to Health and Hygiene for People with Disabilities: Two Case Studies from Nepal and Malawi.
2018
International journal of environmental research and public health