Safe drinking water is essential to good health, but more than 880 million people worldwide lack access to it, according to UNICEF. Additionally, approximately 2.5 billion people around the world do not have access to basic sanitation. These issues pose a major threat to health. Water in resource-poor settings often carries deadly pathogens, and of the 1.5 million deaths from diarrheal disease each year, many are due to an unsafe water supply or lack of sanitation.1
PATH’s Safe Water Project has embarked on a five-year learning initiative to test commercial market approaches for household water treatment and safe storage products and learn about the distribution of safe water products to people in developing countries. One aspect of the project, based in Andhra Pradesh, India, works with partners to build distribution channels, improve existing products to make them more appropriate for low-income settings, and learn about generating demand to sustain correct use and purchase decisions. Ultimately, the project will provide strategies for scale-up, replication, and sustainability in many settings. PATH is also conducting research on the water treatment market, products, and behaviors in Vietnam, Cambodia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Kenya.
1 Black Re, Morris S, Bryce J. Where and why are 10 million children dying every year? Lancet. 2003;361(9376):2226-2234.