If you give students clean water, the entire community benefits in this Malawi community.
The negative consequences of contaminated water extend far beyond health issues such as diarrheal disease. For example, in Malawi, contaminated drinking water and the diarrheal disease it causes led to children missing many days of school.
The Midzemba ADP Schools Safe Water Project, a partnership between Procter and Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, World Vision, and Population Services International (PSI) Malawi, worked to reduce diarrheal disease episodes and absenteeism in target area schools. The program implemented point-of-use (POU) water treatment in target schools using WaterGuard Wa Ufa (known as PUR in the United States).
A small four-gram satchel of the powdered treatment has the capacity to clean ten liters of water by killing bacteria and viruses and removing solid materials in about 20 minutes. The water disinfectant was used by students at these schools along with complementary diarrheal disease intervention methods, including hand-washing with soap after using the restroom and improving sanitation by increasing the number of pit latrines available to students.
Students were provided with treated drinking water at school, buckets with taps for storing treated water, and materials for handwashing. The schools also worked to raise awareness about the importance of hand-washing with soap and drinking treated water.
The program led to a 90 percent reduction in diarrheal disease in target schools and a 57 percent reduction in school absences. Additionally, pit latrine coverage increased by 75 percent. Broader benefits were also realized in the general community. Children brought their improved hand-washing habits to their families, leading to a more than 50 percent decrease in diarrheal disease in this Malawi community.