Abstract
Household-level water treatment products provide safe drinking water to at-risk populations, but relatively few people use them regularly; little is known about factors that influence uptake of this proven health intervention. We assessed uptake of these water treatments in Nyanza Province, Kenya, November 2003–February 2005. We interviewed users and non-user controls of a new household water treatment product regarding drinking water and socioeconomic factors. We calculated regional use-prevalence of these products based on 10 randomly selected villages in the Asembo region of Nyanza Province, Kenya. Thirty-eight percent of respondents reported ever using household-level treatment products. Initial use of a household-level product was associated with having turbid water as a source (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 16.6, p = 0.007), but consistent usage was more common for a less costly and more accessible product that did not address turbidity. A combination of social marketing, retail marketing, and donor subsidies may be necessary to extend the health benefits of household-level water treatment to populations most at risk.
Highlights
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund [1], only 46% of the population of Kenya has access to improved water sources
We defined reported consistent use based on number of sachets purchased relative to water consumption and conducted a separate analysis on the sub-group with confirmed use based on the presence of chlorine in the household drinking water at the time of the interview
Household-level water treatment offers an immediate method for providing safe water to millions of people who will not have access to improved water delivery systems in the foreseeable future
Summary
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund [1], only 46% of the population of Kenya has access to improved water sources. Since not all water from improved sources meets World Health. Kenya, where there has been slow progress toward improved water systems, [4,5] people have another option for obtaining safe water. Household-level water treatment products offer an immediate, affordable alternative to resource-intensive networked systems for providing safe drinking water for Kenyans and millions of others throughout the developing world. While the health benefits of household-level products are well-documented [6,7,8,9], motivating consistent use remains a significant challenge [10]. The vast majority of homes are not equipped with electricity, few communities have even public taps, and all lack sewerage systems
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