WaterAid pays tribute to Professor Val Curtis
I would like to express on behalf of all my colleagues at WaterAid how deeply saddened we are to hear of the death of Professor Val Curtis, Director of the Environmental Health Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Val was a trusted colleague, a great collaborator and a valued advisor for our hygiene behaviour change work and our mission to reach everyone, everywhere by 2030.
Val’s death is not only a personal loss to many at WaterAid who have worked closely with her, but a huge loss to the water, sanitation, hygiene and health sectors. Over her incredible 40-year career, Val led research that put hygiene behaviour change including handwashing on the political agenda across the world, and advocated that decent toilets be made normal for everyone, everywhere.
Val co-developed an approach known as Behaviour Centred Design to create and test interventions in hygiene, sanitation and other behaviour-related issues, which has informed robust behaviour change programmes in many low- and middle-income countries, as well as the response to COVID-19 globally. She truly changed thousands – if not millions – of lives.