Aquaya is collaborating with Professor Jack Colford’s team in the UC Berkeley, School of Public Health to conduct an epidemiological evaluation of the long-term health and socio-economic impacts of water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions implemented by NGOs in rural communities of Tamil Nadu state in Southern India. This evaluation is funded by the Agora Foundation.

The year-long study will compare villages that have received improved water and sanitation infrastructure and hygiene education over the last five years with matched control villages that have not received these interventions. Households in intervention and control villages will be surveyed every month to determine household and community water quality, childhood health (including diarrhea prevalence), school attendance, and additional indicators for economic activity. Impacts of the program will be measured as differences between the intervention and control villages.

Results from the study will be published and disseminated in order to help policy makers, donors, and practitioners make informed decisions for future environmental health interventions.