Social Marketing Point-Of-Use Water Treatment: Bringing Safe Water to Developing Countries at Scale

This presentation demonstrates how private sector and NGO partnerships can create sustainable approaches to distribute household water treatment at scale.

When chlorination was introduced into water supply systems in the developed world, it dramatically decreased the burden of water-related disease. For those in developing countries without regular access to piped water, point-of-use (POU) technologies empower households to protect themselves from serious water-related diseases. Chlorination and other POU interventions can reduce the incidence of diarrhea by approximately 50% and decrease school absenteeism. Three elements - household water treatment with dilute chlorine solution, combined with storage in a safe container and hygiene education make up the CDC-developed Safe Water System intervention.

Complementary to water infrastructure projects, chlorine POU technologies can be scaled up from pilot projects to a national scale. This scale approach will be illustrated through two country examples: Zambia and Madagascar. In each country, Population Services International (PSI) partners with the local private commercial sector and NGOs to implement safe water programs. PSI's first POU program, Zambia, offers lessons on local partnerships, relationships with government ministries, distribution and education through clinics, and scaling up a pilot program to a national level. In Madagascar, PSI launched its safe water program early in response to a cyclone and ensuing cholera epidemics. Having distributed dilute chlorine as an emergency relief product, PSI encountered initial barriers to marketing chlorine as a product for daily use. PSI Madagascar has since launched safe water programs in schools and distribution and educational programs in communities, schools and popular local eateries.

PSI evaluates the impact of its programs through surveys and GPS mapping of consumer outlets selling PSI's safe water products. In 2006 alone, the approach was successful in distributing over 2 million bottles of chlorine solution in Zambia, each of which treats 1,000 liters. In Madagascar, the benefits of launching during an epidemic outweighed the initial challenges, and the program treated over 900 million liters of water.

The success and lessons learned from these programs demonstrate that cost-effective and easy to use technologies for water treatment can be used in a wide-rage of contexts to have significant health benefits for children and their families.