Integrated HIV Testing, Malaria, and Diarrhea Prevention Campaign in Kenya:

March 6, 2012 · 0 comments

PLoS One. 2012;7(2): Feb 8.

Integrated HIV Testing, Malaria, and Diarrhea Prevention Campaign in Kenya: Modeled Health Impact and Cost-Effectiveness.

Kahn JG, Muraguri N, Harris B, Lugada E, Clasen T, Grabowsky M, Mermin J, Shariff S.

Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, California, United States of America.

BACKGROUND: Efficiently delivered interventions to reduce HIV, malaria, and diarrhea are essential to accelerating global health efforts. A 2008 community integrated prevention campaign in Western Province, Kenya, reached 47,000 individuals over 7 days, providing HIV testing and counseling, water filters, insecticide-treated bed nets, condoms, and for HIV-infected individuals cotrimoxazole prophylaxis and referral for ongoing care. We modeled the potential cost-effectiveness of a scaled-up integrated prevention campaign.

METHODS: We estimated averted deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) based on published data on baseline mortality and morbidity and on the protective effect of interventions, including antiretroviral therapy. We incorporate a previously estimated scaled-up campaign cost. We used published costs of medical care to estimate savings from averted illness (for all three diseases) and the added costs of initiating treatment earlier in the course of HIV disease.

RESULTS: Per 1000 participants, projected reductions in cases of diarrhea, malaria, and HIV infection avert an estimated 16.3 deaths, 359 DALYs and $85,113 in medical care costs. Earlier care for HIV-infected persons adds an estimated 82 DALYs averted (to a total of 442), at a cost of $37,097 (reducing total averted costs to $48,015). Accounting for the estimated campaign cost of $32,000, the campaign saves an estimated $16,015 per 1000 participants. In multivariate sensitivity analyses, 83% of simulations result in net savings, and 93% in a cost per DALY averted of less than $20.

DISCUSSION: A mass, rapidly implemented campaign for HIV testing, safe water, and malaria control appears economically attractive.

PVC pipe and chlorine: Cheap and lasting water treatment in Nicaragua

March 2, 2012 · 0 comments

PVC pipe and chlorine: Cheap and lasting water treatment in Nicaragua

Source: Engineering for Change | Rob Goodier | Feb. 26, 2012 (With additional photos)

The chlorinator, shown here fully assembled and broken down, attaches to a loop in the water pipe that feeds into the community tank. Image courtesy of CTI

Officials in the Matagalpa health ministry in Nicaragua convened late last year to announce that infant deaths to gastrointestinal disease had dropped to zero, down from six in 2010. The news coincides with a surging public water chlorination program. In the agrarian villages in the region’s temperate mountains, community leaders have installed handmade chlorinators in the town water supply. Working with international volunteers and non-profits, dozens of villages have formed water committees to build, install and maintain the devices.

Since the pilot program began in 23 villages in 2001, the communities report decreases in diarrhea, intestinal parasites and other waterborne disease. Jorge Fernandez is the Nicaragua program director at the US-based Compatible Technology International, which designed and helps install the chlorinators. He attributes the public health gains in Matagalpa to a constellation of programs including hygiene education, sewage treatment, government support and distribution of free chlorine to communities.

“Water chlorination is however, globally recognized as one of the most important advances to public health, having been proven to have an enormous impact for over a century,” Fernandez told E4C in an email.

The chlorination program appears to have staying power, as communities maintain their chlorinators for years after the technicians leave. It is scalable, aiming to reach 100,000 people by the end of this year, and the model could have international potential.

[click to continue…]

Bookmark and Share

Accounting for water quality in monitoring access to safe drinking-water as part of the Millennium Development Goals

March 1, 2012 · 0 comments

WHO Bulletin, March 2012

Accounting for water quality in monitoring access to safe drinking-water as part of the Millennium Development Goals: lessons from five countries

Rob ES Bain, Stephen W Gundry, Jim A Wright, Hong Yang, Steve Pedley & Jamie K Bartram

Objective – To determine how data on water source quality affect assessments of progress towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target on access to safe drinking-water.

Methods – Data from five countries on whether drinking-water sources complied with World Health Organization water quality guidelines on contamination with thermotolerant coliform bacteria, arsenic, fluoride and nitrates in 2004 and 2005 were obtained from the Rapid Assessment of Drinking-Water Quality project. These data were used to adjust estimates of the proportion of the population with access to safe drinking-water at the MDG baseline in 1990 and in 2008 made by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, which classified all improved sources as safe.

Findings – Taking account of data on water source quality resulted in substantially lower estimates of the percentage of the population with access to safe drinking-water in 2008 in four of the five study countries: the absolute reduction was 11% in Ethiopia, 16% in Nicaragua, 15% in Nigeria and 7% in Tajikistan. There was only a slight reduction in Jordan. Microbial contamination was more common than chemical contamination.

Conclusion – The criterion used by the MDG indicator to determine whether a water source is safe can lead to substantial overestimates of the population with access to safe drinking-water and, consequently, also overestimates the progress made towards the 2015 MDG target. Monitoring drinking-water supplies by recording both access to water sources and their safety would be a substantial improvement.

Reinforcing cholera intervention through prediction-aided prevention

March 1, 2012 · 0 comments

WHO Bulletin, March 2012

Reinforcing cholera intervention through prediction-aided prevention

With the ever-expanding geographic reach and disease burden of the current cholera pandemic, as well as alarming fatality rates in newly affected regions, it is apparent that global cholera prevention strategies are failing.The established treatment methods – oral rehydration, antibiotics, enhanced water and sanitation infrastructure and vaccination – have performed well in selected local and regional settings. These measures are yet to be implemented on a global scale due to economic, logistic or other practical constraints.

However, the disease burden could be significantly reduced if these preventive measures could be deployed ahead of time with an early warning system before an outbreak hits a particular region.

Development of a Spatial and Temporal Agent-based Model for Studying Water and Health Relationships

February 17, 2012 · 0 comments

Development of a Spatial and Temporal Agent-based Model for Studying Water and Health Relationships: the Case Study of Two Villages in Limpopo, South Africa

Jeffrey B. Demarest, et al. Department of Systems Engineering, United States Military Academy, West Point

Submitted to: Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, December 2011

Diarrhea, the second leading cause of child morbidity and mortality, can have detrimental effects in the physical and cognitive development of children in developing countries. Health interventions (e.g., increased access to health services and safe water) designed to address this problem are difficult to implement in resource-limited settings. In this paper, we present a tool for understanding the complex relationship between water and public health in rural areas of a developing country.

A spatial and temporal agent-based model (ABM) was developed to simulate the current water, sanitation, and health status in two villages in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The model was calibrated using empirical data and published sources. It was used to demonstrate the effects of poor water quality on the frequency of diarrheal episodes in children, and consequently on child development. Preliminary simulation results show that at the current total coliform levels in the water sources of the studied villages, children are expected to experience stunting by as much as -1.0 standard deviation from the World Health Organization height norms.

With minor modifications, the calibrated ABM can be used to design and evaluate intervention strategies for improving child health in these villages. The model can also be applied to other regions worldwide that face the same environmental challenges and conditions as the studied villages

Comparative assessment of chemical contaminant removal by three household water treatment filters

February 17, 2012 · 0 comments

Water SA, Vol 38, No 1 (2012)

A comparative assessment of chemical contaminant removal by three household water treatment filters

TO Mahlangu, BB Mamba, MNB Momba

This study was aimed at modifying the design of, constructing, evaluating and comparing chemical contaminant removal efficiency by, 3 household water treatment filters. The filters were: 1) biosand filter (BSF); 2) the ceramic candle filter (CCF); 3) bucket filter (BF). The filters were evaluated for their efficiency in removal of calcium, magnesium, iron and arsenic, nitrates, phosphates, fluorides, total organic carbon and turbidity, by determining levels of these contaminants in water before and after filtration through the filters. The effects of chlorophyll a concentration(mg/m3) of intake water, as well as the effects of turbidity of intake water, on the flow rates of the filters was quantified and recommendations on the quality of water that could be filtered through these filters were made.

Chlorophyll a concentrations in intake water had a positive correlation with the turbidity of the unfiltered water (r = 0.607).The flow rates of the filters were 0.8 ℓ/h – 6.48 ℓ/h (BSF), 0.05 ℓ/h – 2.495 ℓ/h (CCF) and 106.5 ℓ/h – 160.5 ℓ/h (BF). Because of the large particle size materials used in constructing the BF and the design, which caused it to be a rapid sand filter, the biosand filter (BF) was found to have flow rates significantly higher than those of BSF and CCF (p ≥ 0.05). There was no difference in the efficiency of removal of metals (average 40% – 50%) by the filters (p ≥ 0.05), as the same removal mechanisms (straining, ammonification, fixation and adsorption) were believed to be taking place in all of the filters.

The CCF removed total organic carbon (TOC) (up to 39%) better than the BSF and BF (p ≤ 0.05). The filters removed turbidity effectively with the BSF having the highest reduction (70%). The average turbidity reduction efficiency was in the order BSF (70%) > BF (51%) > CCF (44%). The BSF, CCF and BF reduced turbidity and other contaminants even after filtering a total cumulative volume greater than 1 000 ℓ.

Global Distribution of Outbreaks of Water-Associated Infectious Diseases

February 17, 2012 · 0 comments

Kun Yang, Jeffrey LeJeune, Doug Alsdorf, Bo Lu, C. K. Shum, Song Liang.

Global Distribution of Outbreaks of Water-Associated Infectious Diseases. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2012; 6 (2): e1483 DOI

Background – Water plays an important role in the transmission of many infectious diseases, which pose a great burden on global public health. However, the global distribution of these water-associated infectious diseases and underlying factors remain largely unexplored.

Methods and Findings – Based on the Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON), a global database including water-associated pathogens and diseases was developed. In this study, reported outbreak events associated with corresponding water-associated infectious diseases from 1991 to 2008 were extracted from the database. The location of each reported outbreak event was identified and geocoded into a GIS database. Also collected in the GIS database included geo-referenced socio-environmental information including population density (2000), annual accumulated temperature, surface water area, and average annual precipitation. Poisson models with Bayesian inference were developed to explore the association between these socio-environmental factors and distribution of the reported outbreak events. Based on model predictions a global relative risk map was generated. A total of 1,428 reported outbreak events were retrieved from the database.

The analysis suggested that outbreaks of water-associated diseases are significantly correlated with socio-environmental factors. Population density is a significant risk factor for all categories of reported outbreaks of water-associated diseases; water-related diseases (e.g., vector-borne diseases) are associated with accumulated temperature; water-washed diseases (e.g., conjunctivitis) are inversely related to surface water area; both water-borne and water-related diseases are inversely related to average annual rainfall. Based on the model predictions, “hotspots” of risks for all categories of water-associated diseases were explored.

USF Patel Grand Challenge: The Smart Pot

February 14, 2012 · 0 comments

Patel Grand Challenge : The Smart Pot

What is the Patel Grand Challenge? 

In an effort to make potable water available across the developing world, USF’s Patel Center, in partnership with the IWA, invites designers, researchers, inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs from the developing world to create a Smart Pot that:

  • treats contaminated water during collection,
  • is affordable, robust and user friendly,
  • has a similar shape and weight as a traditional pot (jerrycan),
  • can be manufactured locally, and
  • requires minimal running and maintenance cost.

Additional Information

Low Cost Water Disinfectant System Using Solar Energy

February 14, 2012 · 0 comments

Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2012, 8, 1-7 1

Low Cost Water Disinfectant System Using Solar Energy

Anees Fatima, Omm-e-Hany, Moazzam Ali Khan,* Atif Shahzad and Sara Umair Siddiqui. Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan

Solar disinfection unit is unsophisticated, efficient and reasonably priced water treatment process appropriate
for use in developing countries. Water was filtered through cloth, net and coconut husk to remove any suspended particles in water which would directly increase the efficiency of solar disinfection. The filtered water is then transferred in solar disinfection unit. Water with Escherichia coli as indicator organism was filled in the solar disinfection unit comprising of four polyethylene terepthalate (PET) plastic bottles joined together with PVC pipes. These bottles were kept in direct sunlight for 12-48 hours. Weather conditions and solar radiation were obtained using different programs.

Solar radiations and elevated temperature destroyed the indicator organism efficiently. Health peril of chemical released in water was well thought-out and was determined to be safe with respect to human consumption. The efficiency of solar disinfection was augmented by use of semi-conductor titanium dioxide (TiO2) which reduced the time for exposure up to 90%. The temperature increase and dissolved oxygen decrease in the disinfection process which was overcome by retaining this water in traditional earthenware water storage vessels (mutka). Allowing accessibility to better life through improved quality of water.

PATH – Sparking Demand for Household Water Treatment Products

February 13, 2012 · 0 comments

Sparking Demand for Household Water Treatment Products: Lessons From Commercial Projects in Four Countries, 2012.

PATH

This brief presents the strategic approach and framework developed by the SWP team for demand generation activities. This approach is based on a review of major marketing and behavior change concepts and on an examination of demand generation strategies used to market goods such as toothpaste, cookstoves, and soap to low-income consumers around the world. The brief also describes how SWP pilots in Cambodia, India, Kenya, and Vietnam have applied the framework to generate demand for various types of HWTS products.

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →