### Bérangère Magarinos-Ruchat, Chief Sustainability Officer, Firmenich

### Maureen Ravily, Manager, Archipel&Co



 

 

 



For the last decades, access to sanitation has been mostly addressed from the “infrastructure” angle: most of the effort has been placed on building sanitation facilities and developing tech-oriented equipment. Whilst these innovations are necessary, they tend to miss a critical issue: the user experience. This article further investigates this issue of user experience by focusing on one specifi c factor: malodor. It introduces key results from a research run by Firmenich, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Archipel&Co that explores the role of malodor in sanitation-related decisions in 10 lowincome urban settlements in Kenya, South Africa, China and India.



 

 

 



 

 

  [  ![](/sites/g/files/dvc2551/files/styles/crop_freeform/public/image/2021/01/Essential%20Services%20in%20Africa%20-%20p88.jpg.webp?h=f5105f7a&itok=gi90NaQ-)  ](https://www.institut.veolia.org/sites/g/files/dvc2551/files/document/2021/01/The%20Veolia%20Institute%20Review%20-%20Essential%20Services%20in%20Africa%20-%20p88%20B%C3%A9rang%C3%A8re%20Magarinos-Ruchat%2C%20Maureen%20Ravily.pdf)  



[Read more](https://www.institut.veolia.org/sites/g/files/dvc2551/files/document/2021/01/The%20Veolia%20Institute%20Review%20-%20Essential%20Services%20in%20Africa%20-%20p88%20B%C3%A9rang%C3%A8re%20Magarinos-Ruchat%2C%20Maureen%20Ravily.pdf)



 

 

 

 

 

 





 

 

 

 





### Resources

 

[Contents page of the issue](/en/publications/veolia-institute-review-facts-reports/water-waste-energy-prospects-essential-services)

 



 

 

 

 

[Download the full pdf of the issue](https://www.institut.veolia.org/sites/g/files/dvc2551/files/document/2021/03/FACTS_ACCES_AUX_SE-V2-EN.pdf)