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VirWaTest, A Point-of-Use Method for the Detection of Viruses in Water Samples
Published on: May 11, 2019
An integrated method for evaluating community-based safe water programmes and an application in rural Mexico.
Carol Kolb deWilde1, Anita Milman, Yvonne Flores
1School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, USA.
Health Policy and Planning
|August 9, 2008
Summary
Community safe water programs often fail to reduce diarrhoeal disease because they don't consider household convenience and priorities. A new evaluation framework highlights factors crucial for intervention success.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Environmental Health
- Water Resource Management
Background:
- Diarrhoeal disease remains a significant health burden in developing nations.
- Community-based safe drinking water programs are promoted as cost-effective interventions.
- The effectiveness of these water programs is often under-investigated, with limited understanding of success factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and apply a stepwise evaluation framework to analyze factors influencing safe water intervention effectiveness.
- To identify why community-based safe water programs succeed or fail by examining biological exposure reductions.
- To assess the performance and impact of a specific community-based water purification system (UVWaterworks) in rural Mexico.
Main Methods:
- Developed a stepwise evaluation framework analyzing technical, financial, social, and behavioral factors.
- Incorporated insights from public health, community-based resource management, and household choice literature.
- Applied the framework to evaluate the UVWaterworks program in rural Mexico over five years.
Main Results:
- The UVWaterworks program in rural Mexico showed no impact on diarrhoea incidence.
- Household priorities and preferences were identified as key factors influencing consistent use of safe water sources.
- User convenience emerged as a primary leverage point for improving program effectiveness.
Conclusions:
- A comprehensive examination of diverse factors is necessary to understand safe water program performance and impact.
- Intent-to-treat analyses alone are insufficient for revealing the reasons behind program success or failure.
- Addressing household priorities and convenience is critical for enhancing the effectiveness of safe water interventions.
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