Drinking-water in developing countries frequently becomes recontaminated after collection and during storage. A new study [1] proposes a semi-quantified ‘disease risk index’ (DRI) designed to identify communities or households that are most at risk from consuming recontaminated drinking-water. It presents a brief review of appropriate physical and educational intervention measures and discusses their effective use. It concludes that a simple appraisal tool, such as the proposed DRI, would be useful in shaping strategies for community water-supply programmes.

[1] Trevett, A.F. and Carter, R.C. (2008). Targeting appropriate interventions to minimize deterioration of drinking-water quality in developing countries. Journal of health, population and nutrition; vol. 26, no. 2 ; p. 125-138. Download here

Contact: Dr Andrew Trevett, World Health Organisation, Bangladesh. Email: trevetta@searo.who.int

Tags: monitoring & evaluation, technology, water quality, water-related diseases