science program
IPWR Fellow: Benjamin Arnold, MPH
Location:
University of California at Berkeley
Amount: $50,000 for two years
Project: Long-Term Outcomes Following a Solar Water Disinfection in Rural Guatemala
Numerous controlled trials in recent years have demonstrated that methods of point-of-use (household) water treatment dramatically reduce diarrhea among users, and may be an important strategy for providing safe water to millions of people worldwide. The main limitation of point-of-use water treatment research to date is that there have been no rigorous evaluations of the interventions' sustainability over periods longer than one year. Then principal aim of this study is to evaluate the use and effectiveness of household solar water disinfection four years into a large-scale community intervention. I will address this aim with a cross-sectional cohort study, in which I will sample approximately 600 households (1,200 children <5 years) from communities that have and have not been included in the intervention. With help from staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) field station in Guatemala, I will collect diarrhea incidence data retrospectively. We will also collect continued use of non-use of the SODIS intervention. This pilot study will be the first scientific evaluation of the sustainability of point-of-use water treatment interventions of any kind. Measurements of intervention use and diarrhea incidence among users and non-users will inform directly a future, large-scale sustainability study in the region.
Publications
