Evaluation by villagers on changing the source of drinking water and health status in Mopti, Mali

Background: Mali has one of the highest under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) in the world. The major cause of children's death is due to malnutrition and diarrhea. The access ratio of safe water is only 57% in rural areas. Some countries and NGOs/NPOs have made deep wells in rural areas, because deep wells are considered to be less likely to become contaminated by bacteria. We evaluate the effectiveness of changing the water supply and health conditions include children's diarrhea in Mopti, Mali. Methods: We conducted this study between February and April, 2011. We randomly selected 63 villages and interviewed households using a questionnaire to determine: 1. the socio-economic status of residents, 2. the source of their drinking water, 3. the recent/last 5 years health conditions for them, and 4. their knowledge of safe water practices. Results: A total of 730 questionnaires were collected. Mean number of infant (under 5) per family is 2.39. U5MR in the study site is 342/1000. Villagers who used deep wells are 443(65.5%), others are 233(34.4%).The odds ratio for decreasing children's diarrhea about using deep wells vs. others is 2.55 (p=0.07), decreasing family diarrhea is 5.12 (p<0.01). Conclusions: We conclude that using deep wells are drastically decreased diarrheal patient for the family member. On the other hand, there is not so significant for children's diarrhea. Our research results may affect the choice and implementation of safe water supply systems in the Sub-Sahara African countries. We will explain other factors relationship using a multi-level analysis in near future.