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Research project

Urban Drinking Water and Health Outcomes

Project overview

This project explored the feasibility of a developing an intervention to reduce child diarrhoea through subsidising water sold in plastic bags (sachet water) in low income urban areas of Ghana. Market surveillance of sachet water in such areas, coupled with analyses of water samples tested across the country, showed that sachet water was much less microbiologically contaminated than other alternatives, including tap water. Through a feasibility study, we found that a system of vouchers for water sachets was acceptable to both shops and kiosks selling sachets and to households with young children. However, there remained obstacles to uptake of such a scheme, particularly meeting the ongoing cost of such a subsidy and environmental concerns over the plastic waste generated from sachet consumption.

Staff

Lead researcher

Professor Jim Wright

Professor in GIS & Int Development

Research interests

  • Safe water access and public health in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Environmental applications of GIS
  • Geospatial analysis for public health, particularly via routine health management information systems
Other researchers

Emeritus Professor Allan Hill

Research outputs

Sachet water and product registration
Mawuli Dzodzomenyo,
Günther Fink,
Allan Hill,
Winfred Dotse-Gborgbortsi,
Nicola Wardrop,
Genevieve Aryeetey,
Nathaniel Coleman,
& James Wright
, 2018 , Journal of Water and Health , 16 (2)
DOI: 10.2166/wh.2018.055
Type: article
Estimation of packaged water consumption and associated plastic waste production from household budget surveys
Nicola Wardrop,
Mawuli Dzodzomenyo,
Genevieve Aryeetey,
Allan Hill,
Robert Bain,
& James Wright
, 2017 , Environmental Research Letters , 12 (7)
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa751f
Type: article
Livestock ownership and microbial contamination of drinking-water: evidence from nationally representative household surveys in Ghana, Nepal and Bangladesh
Nicola A. Wardrop,
Allan G. Hill,
Mawuli Dzodzomenyo,
Genevieve Aryeetey,
& Jim A. Wright
, 2017 , International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2017.09.014
Type: article
Effects of sachet water consumption on exposure to microbe-contaminated drinking water: household survey evidence from Ghana
James Wright,
Mawuli Dzodzomenyo,
Nicola Wardrop,
Richard Johnston,
Allan Hill,
Genevieve Aryeetey,
& Richard Adanu
, 2016 , International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 13 (3) , 1--17
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph13030303
Type: article
Subsidized sachet water to reduce diarrheal disease in young children: a feasibility study in Accra, Ghana
James Wright,
Mawuli Dzodzomenyo,
Guenther Fink,
Nicola Wardrop,
Genevieve Aryeetey,
Richard Adanu,
& Allan Hill
, 2016 , American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene , 95 (1) , 239--246
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.15-0854
Type: article
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