The Christian Science Monitor features our safe water interventions, including our recent expansion:
The number of people with access to safe water in Malawi and Uganda doubled in the last 18 months. A nonprofit focused on scalable solutions, Evidence Action, provides free chlorine treatment via 52,000 dispensers that are serving 9.8 million people across both countries. Residents collect water at their community’s source and add pre-measured chlorine to reduce pathogens.
The United Nations estimates 33 children a day in Uganda and 1.2 million people worldwide each year die from diarrhea. Poor sanitation and hygiene cost Malawi $57 million annually in health care expenses and productivity loss.
Evidence Action says that its model takes inspiration from behavioral economics and that its intervention has achieved an adoption rate five times higher than other purification methods. The group’s chlorine dispensers now provide safe water for 10% of Uganda’s population and 15% of Malawi’s, and serve 2 million people in Kenya. The nonprofit hopes to expand its dispenser network and is evaluating an in-line chlorination system, which would add chlorine in pipes through a simple device installed near the water collection point.
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