# Environmental and Sanitation Improvements with mHealth

> **NIH NIH R21** · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $193,125

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
More than half of the world’s population is urban. While economic opportunities often drive migration to urban
settings, the benefits of increased economic opportunity, environmental and health infrastructure in cities is not
adequate or equitable. While urban areas may have greater sanitation coverage, those in densely populated,
slum communities experience disparities in distribution, quality, and continuity of these water and sanitation
services. In conjunction with government investment, the issues of collective action, stakeholder engagement,
inclusive and sustainable practices remain critical to impactful urban sanitation solutions. Addressing the major
barriers to effective urban sanitation interventions such as building mechanisms for communication between the
residents of the vulnerable communities and the service providers at scale has the potential to make a
tremendous impact on health and well-being. Mobile health technology has tremendous potential to gather data
directly from the underserved populations in need of sustainable water and sanitation solutions and enhance the
inclusion of vulnerable populations in the participatory construction of these solutions.
The primary purpose of this proposal is to develop and evaluate a mobile health technology program to enhance
urban sanitation interventions in densely populated and marginalized urban communities to increase connections
and engagement with sanitation interventions, and result in reduced environmental contamination. Through
formative research, a pilot feasibility investigation, and a validation study, we will determine the ability of the
mHealth program to enhance urban sanitation interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10741398
- **Project number:** 1R21TW012610-01
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Federico Costa
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $193,125
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-08-17 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10741398

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10741398, Environmental and Sanitation Improvements with mHealth (1R21TW012610-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10741398. Licensed CC0.

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