Below are links to 2 Letters to the Editor in the March 2012 issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene:
Household Water Treatment in China, Hong Yang, Jim A. Wright, Stephen W. Gundry
Dear Sir:
We read with interest the article by Rosa and Clasen1 about the prevalence of household water treatment in low-income and middle-income countries. They discussed the geographic limitations of their global estimation, especially the lack of data for the largest national population in China. Several surveys covering water and sanitation have been undertaken in China in recent decades, such as the World Health Survey, the Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000, and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. These survey results have already been included in the World Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Program report. However, none of these survey questionnaires covered household water treatment.
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In Response, Ghislaine Rosa, Thomas Clasen
Dear Sir:
The letter by Yang, Wright, and Gundry1 provides valuable information about the scope of household water treatment practices in China, thereby adding to our previous estimates.2 As more countries include questions on water treatment practices to their household surveys as recommended by the World Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Program for Water and Sanitation, we can expect to fill in other gaps in our knowledge about the coverage of household water treatment.
As we noted in our report, however, we urge caution in relying on these estimates or attempting to project their impact on health.
