SAFE WATER, SAFE HEALTH, SAFE WOMEN

Access to safe water is a key determinant of population and public health, particularly in low income countries.  Contamination from industrial, agricultural and primarily human waste continues to threaten both human and ecosystem health in many parts of the world.  Further, it is now widely recognized that the primary determinant for addressing the issues of global poverty is the provision of safe water; access to safe water enhances the potential for educational opportunities (particularly for girls) and facilitates participation in local community economic development. Water-related diseases associated with contamination are many: diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, shigella, polio, meningitis, and hepatitis A and E. Children and women are most severely and directly impacted by this contamination, due to physical vulnerability and exposure hence this project will help improve the quality of life in general for the whole community but specifically for children and women.  In many cases, these communities are solely dependent on lake water for drinking, fish (source of income and also food, nourishment and health) and other household uses. Understanding the relationship between drinking water and good health is vital to population and public health, as access to safe drinking water is a cornerstone of a healthy population.

To address these challenges, this initiative will:

(i) begin to understand the perceived links between water and health among local populations,

(ii) develop interventions to raise awareness of the links between water and health, and

(iii) evaluate those interventions so the learnings can be shared with other communities.

Rationale:

• To bring together the experience of partner institutes in Canada, Africa and elsewhere to understand the knowledge, attitudes and practices of local communities around water and health;
• To use this information to develop an educational intervention that will help raise awareness of water-health links in local communities;
• To create sustainable development conditions for the people of East Africa by directly addressing water-health linkages in an integrated and effective manner.

Objectives:

• To educate and build capacity of  local communities around water and health.
• To educate local communities on key elements of maintaining high levels of population and public health in the context of safe water. 
• To improve public health through public education and outreach about water and health.

Outcome:

A better informed population with respect to the linkages between water quality, water contamination and health.  In turn, this informed population will be characterized by better health and better economic conditions.

Status:

Morgan Levison returned to Kisumu Region for an extended field season in September 2010. While there, she conducted focus groups, semi-structured interviews, community mapping and photo voice investigations, as well as georeferencing important community locations and conducting water quality sampling.

KAPE Project Document

Last updated: 24 June 2011