Vale Professor Val Curtis

Water for Women is saddened to hear of the passing of Val Curtis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

Her commitment and achievements in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector have been an inspiration, and she leaves behind her an incredible legacy that we can all take forward. 

As Rosie Wheen, CEO of WaterAid remarked at the recent 2020 Global Handwashing Day Roundtable hosted jointly by WaterAid and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (15 October), Val Curtis has given us our “marching orders” to continue the great work she started.   

For all of us in the WASH sector, that will be the best way to acknowledge and celebrate her life. 

On behalf of everyone involved with Water for Women, we pass along our best wishes to her family and friends, as well as her colleagues not only at LSHTM, but around the world.  She will be dearly missed and her contributions will continue to be highly valued.

The London School of Hygiene Medicine paid tribute on the passing of Professor Curtis who passed away on 19 October. She was with her husband, Professor Robert Aunger, and her children at the end.

She recently gave this lecture which brilliantly captured her life’s work from her own perspective.

We need to understand human behaviour better. The COVID-19 crisis has starkly revealed the lack of agreement about what human behaviour is, what causes it, or, most importantly, how to change it. In this inaugural lecture, Professor Val Curtis reflects on 40 years at LSHTM spent largely on the track of behaviour, in particular, behaviour that relates to Hygiene, Water and Sanitation.

Vale Professor Val Curtis.