Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development In Press, July 2013.
Assessing the demographic, behavioural and environmental characteristics and the potential effectiveness of a household water filter in the Republic of Kiribati
Rebecca Psutka, Patricia Priest, Tieren Davies, Teretia Rakunuea, Steven Iddings and Andre Reiffer
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand 9010
E-mail: rebecca.psutka@gmail.com
Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Republic of Kiribati
World Health Organization, Cambodia
World Health Organization, Republic of Kiribati
Aim: To measure diarrhoea burden, environmental hygiene and water quality in Kiribati, in order to assess whether a domestic water filter would be likely to improve child and community health.
Methods: Cross-sectional survey of randomly selected households using a questionnaire and analysis of drinking and source water samples.
Results: Female heads of 97 randomly selected households answered the questionnaire. One in four children younger than five years had experienced diarrhoea in the past month and 7% in the past week. Thirty-four percent of respondents and 57% of their children practised open defecation. Handwashing at important times was uncommon as was safe water storage. Almost all households usually boil water. Overall, drinking water was less contaminated than source water (p = 0.05). Where paired samples of source and drinking water were available, drinking water that had been boiled was significantly less contaminated than source water (1 tailed t-test; p = 0.014).
Conclusion: Both ‘waterwashed’ and waterborne transmission are likely responsible for diarrhoea. In this setting where nearly all households boil water, in the absence of hygiene and storage improvements, the substitution of a filter is unlikely to improve water quality.
