Solar disinfection of water for diarrhoeal prevention in Southern India

Anuradha Rose ¹, Sheela Roy ¹, Vinod Abraham ¹, Gunnar Holmgren ², Kuryan George ¹, Vinohar Balraj ¹, Sulochana Abraham ¹, Jayaprakash Muliyil ¹, Abraham Joseph ¹ and Gagandeep Kang ^1*

¹ Christian Medical College, India
² Uppsala University, Sweden

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gkang{at}cmcvellore.ac.in.

Accepted 31 October 2005

Abstract

Objective: We evaluated the efficacy and acceptability of solar irradiation in the prevention of diarrhoeal morbidity in children under 5 years of age, in an urban slum in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

Methods: A total of 100 children were assigned to receive drinking water that had been subjected to solar disinfection in polyethylene terephthalate bottles. One hundred age and sex-matched controls were also selected. Both groups were followed by weekly home visits for a period of six months for any diarrhoeal morbidity. At the end of the follow up period, the acceptability of the intervention was assessed by interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions.

Results: There was significant reduction in the incidence, duration and severity of diarrhea in children receiving solar disinfected water, despite 86% of the children drinking water other than that treated by the intervention. The incidence of diarrhea in the intervention group was 1.7 per child year, and among controls 2.7 per child year, with an incidence rate ratio of 0.64 (95% CI -0.48, 0.86), p - 0.001. The risk of diarrhea was reduced by 40% by using solar disinfection. In qualitative evaluation of acceptability, most women felt that solar disinfection was a feasible and sustainable method of disinfecting water.

Conclusions: Solar disinfection of water is an inexpensive, effective and acceptable method of increasing water safety in a resource limited environment, and can significantly decrease diarrhoeal morbidity in children.

Keywords: India, diarrhoea, solar irradiation, water disinfection

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