Automatically chlorinating water cuts child diarrhoea by almost a quarter in urban Bangladesh

  • A novel water treatment device that delivers chlorine automatically via public taps without the need for electricity, reduced child diarrhoea by 23% compared with controls (156 cases out of 2,073 child measurements [7.5%] vs 216/2,145 [10%]) over 14 months in two urban neighbourhoods of Bangladesh, according to a randomised trial following more than 1,000 children published in The Lancet Global Health journal.
  • Clean water is still a major problem in poor urban communities in low-income countries, where contamination by bacteria can lead to high rates of diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera and typhoid, harming children’s health and growth.
  • Worldwide, an estimated one billion people who have access to piped water are drinking water that does not meet international safety standards.