Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH
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Trop. Med. Int. Health · Oct 2006
Point-of-use water treatment and diarrhoea reduction in the emergency context: an effectiveness trial in Liberia.
Communicable diseases are of particular concern in conflict and disaster-affected populations that reside in camp settings. In the acute emergency phase, diarrhoeal diseases have accounted for more than 40% of deaths among camp residents. ⋯ In intervention households, point-of-use water treatment with the flocculant-disinfectant plus improved storage reduced diarrhoea incidence by 90% and prevalence by 83%, when compared with control households with improved water storage alone. Among the intervention group, residual chlorine levels met or exceeded Sphere standards in 85% (95% CI: 83.1-86.8) of observations with a 95% compliance rate.