Together with the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), and CARE Kenya, Aquaya is examining the influences on end-user adoption of competing household level water treatment products among the rural poor in Nyanza province, Kenya and among the urban poor in the Mirpur slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Much has been published on the efficacy of household water treatment, also known as point-of-use (POU) treatment, in reducing levels of waterborne illness such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever. What is less understood is what can compel vulnerable populations in varying cultural settings to adopt and use appropriate and low-cost products to render their water safe to drink on a sustainable basis.

In Kenya, the three proven products being tested are P&G’s PUR® Purifier of Water, a dilute hypochlorite solution developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and branded in Kenya as Waterguard^TM, and porous ceramic "candle" filtration. In Bangladesh, we are testing four products: Aquatabs chlorine disinfection tablets, the CrystalPur porous ceramic candle siphon design, PUR®, and a Bangladeshi brand of sodium hypochlorite solution. Between the two sites, over 1000 households are being cycled through two-month rotations of each product to understand what product qualities and marketing messages lead to sustained adoption of safe water products.

Here you can view members of the Bangladeshi and Kenyan field study teams.

We anticipate completion of these studies by the mid of 2009, with publication of its results to follow soon thereafter.