Bringing Safe Water to Remote Populations: An Evaluation of a Portable Point-of-Use Intervention in Rural Madagascar

Abstract

Rural populations disproportionately lack access to improved water supplies. We evaluated a novel scheme that employed community-based sales agents to disseminate the Safe Water System (SWS)--a household-level water chlorination and safe storage intervention--in rural Madagascar. Respondents from 242 households in 4 villages were interviewed; all used surface water for drinking water. Respondents from 239 households (99%) had heard of Sûr'Eau, the SWS disinfectant; 226 (95%) reported having ever used Sûr'Eau, and 166 (73%) reported current use. Current Sûr'Eau use was confirmed in 54% of households. Community sales agents effectively motivated their neighbors to adopt a new health behavior that prevents diarrhea. Future work should focus on strategies for sustaining SWS use, factors that motivate community-based sales agents to promote SWS, and the feasibility of scaling up this approach.

Efficacy of Protocols for Cleaning and Disinfecting Infant Feeding Bottles in Less Developed Communities

“…Acceptability and feasibility of these cleaning and disinfection procedures should also be studied, because some cultures or individuals may also object to the scent or taste of chlorine solution or find it difficult to complete the sequence of steps required for adequate bottle disinfection. 42,43 In summary, rinsing infant feeding equipment with soapy water effectively removed contaminating pathogens. Disinfection of such equipment by submerging in chlorine solution was not able to consistently sterilize bottles but is still a practical, low-cost option for improving the microbiological safety of infant formula in rural Africa or other communities in the developing world where infant feeding bottles are used.…”

Socio-environmental drivers of sustainable adoption of household water treatment in developing countries

“…A high usage rate of chlorine solution was achieved because "almost all villagers were aware of the household disinfection strategy, and this knowledge was similar across literacy and socioeconomic strata". 30 But cases 13 (Zambia), 15 (Guatemala), 33 (Bolivia), and 39 (Cambodia) showed the opposite, where households had a high education level but low perception of threat due to poor water quality.…”

Elemental Iron (Fe0) for Better Drinking Water in Rural Areas of Developing Countries

“…Water supply for human consumption has three primary objectives: (i) the minimisation of contamination of waters to be used as sources for drinking water; (ii) the reduction or removal of contaminants by means of treatment processes; and (iii) the prevention of contamination of the drinking water during distribution, storage and supply (Arnold and Colford 2007, Ram et al 2007, WHO 2004. In developing countries natural waters are drunk mostly without treatment.…”

“…In particular in regions where poisonous geogenic species as arsenic are available. For these regions several low-cost point of use technologies have been proposed to protect live of indigenous peoples (Arnold and Colford 2007, Pokhrel et al 2005, Ram et al 2007, Ramaswami et al 2001, Sobsey 2002, Sobsey et al 2008. The supposedly simple, appropriate and affordable technologies suitable for rural areas with no electricity and no tap water have been mostly proposed in the frame work of international research projects.…”