Evaluation of distribution models for household water treatment products in Kenya

Marketing trials for ceramic filters and other HWTS products were carried out in Kenya over 16 months. Community education trainings and sales models were set up at four different sites with local entrepreneurs, Community Health Workers of the Public Health system, Community-based Organizations and staff of NGOs. Selling filters through the water utility, a community-based enterprise, was the most successful retail model, followed by sales done by Community Health Workers. Evidence showed that community-based organizations need to be equipped with adequate management and marketing skills to successfully sell products. Community education through household visits (independent of the stakeholder carrying out the activity) was an effective marketing strategy. Emotional attributes, social norms, if people think it is important to treat the water and education level had the highest influence on the frequency of household water treatment in households

Promoting solar water disinfection in schools: experiences and lessons learnt in Latin America

Assessments of WASH promotion programmes showed that it is difficult to produce sustainable habit changes at community level. Teaching of children and transferring the message from school to the community is a promising approach to increase impact and sustainability. The Fundación SODIS implemented projects promoting household water treatment, with a special focus on solar water disinfection, and improved hygiene in more than 1,000 schools in Latin America, training more than 8'000 teachers and 170'000 Students. The experiences made during these projects showed that children do assimilate new behaviour faster and better than adults and that they can function as triggers for behaviour change and consolidation of new habits in the community. The most important factor to support assimilation was the ritual combination of elements to a complex behaviour pattern. Implementation of SODIS in small, rural schools was very successful, while promotion in big urban schools encountered difficulties

User acceptance: the key to evaluating SODIS and other methods for household water treatment and safe storage

Household water treatment has been identified as one effective strategy to interrupt transmission routes of diarrhoea causing pathogens, and thus to mitigate the global burden of waterborne diseases. And yet, the commitment of governments and international organizations to integrate household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) into their water supply, sanitation, and hygiene promotion programmes remains limited. More efforts are required to scale up the initial successes in the promotion of HWTS methods, and to achieve sustainable application at user level. This article illustrates the experience with the promotion of one particular HWTS approach solar water disinfection (SODIS) as an input to the debate on effectiveness, user acceptance, and integrated planning in the context of HWTS approaches

Gravity-driven membrane disinfection for household drinking water treatment

Ultrafiltration (UF) has been proven to be very effective in the treatment of water for the removal of particles, colloids and microorganisms. However, household application of UF is limited due to membrane fouling which results in complex and maintenance-intensive UF systems

Membrane filtration reduces recontamination risk in chlorinated household water containers

The study was conducted in the catchment area of two Gravity Driven Membrane Filtration (GDM) water kiosks in Uganda. It assessed if the cleaning and disinfection of jerrycans with chlorine can reduce risks for regrowth and recontamination of treated water during storage in undisturbed containers, as well as at the household level. In addition, the impact of water handling, household hygiene and safe storage determinants on water quality was evaluated. Results indicate that the cleanliness of the water storage container has a critical impact on water quality changes during storage. Safe drinking water at the point of consumption after 24 hours of storage at the household level can be achieved with a combination of ultrafiltration and subsequent chlorination

Evaluating novel gravity-driven membrane (GDM) water kiosks in schools

This paper presents results of the field evaluation of three gravity driven membrane (GDM) water kiosks purifying Victoria lake water in schools in Uganda. The study evaluated the technical performance of the systems and the feasibility of the operation and maintenance concepts over two years of operation, as well as the financial viability of the business model and management concept and overall system sustainability. The results show that GDM water kiosks are a simple technology capable of treating turbid surface water and can autonomously supply good quality water to schools and communities. They require little maintenance, are simple to operate and maintain, and with trained local O&M team support, they offer sustainability of operation in remote low-income areas. The business and management model evaluation has not yet been completed and is ongoing

Additional file 1 of Water, sanitation, hygiene practices, health and nutritional status among children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal evidence from remote areas of Dailekh and Achham districts in Nepal

Supplementary Material

Evaluation of distribution models for household water treatment products in Kenya

Marketing trials for ceramic filters and other HWTS products were carried out in Kenya over 16 months. Community education trainings and sales models were set up at four different sites with local entrepreneurs, Community Health Workers of the Public Health system, Community-based Organizations and staff of NGOs. Selling filters through the water utility, a community-based enterprise, was the most successful retail model, followed by sales done by Community Health Workers. Evidence showed that community-based organizations need to be equipped with adequate management and marketing skills to successfully sell products. Community education through household visits (independent of the stakeholder carrying out the activity) was an effective marketing strategy. Emotional attributes, social norms, if people think it is important to treat the water and education level had the highest influence on the frequency of household water treatment in households

Additional file 2 of Water, sanitation, hygiene practices, health and nutritional status among children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal evidence from remote areas of Dailekh and Achham districts in Nepal

Supplementary Material

User acceptance: the key to evaluating SODIS and other methods for household water treatment and safe storage

Household water treatment has been identified as one effective strategy to interrupt transmission routes of diarrhoea causing pathogens, and thus to mitigate the global burden of waterborne diseases. And yet, the commitment of governments and international organizations to integrate household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) into their water supply, sanitation, and hygiene promotion programmes remains limited. More efforts are required to scale up the initial successes in the promotion of HWTS methods, and to achieve sustainable application at user level. This article illustrates the experience with the promotion of one particular HWTS approach solar water disinfection (SODIS) as an input to the debate on effectiveness, user acceptance, and integrated planning in the context of HWTS approaches