LifeStraw® – Health Impact

Field study: Clasen, T. et al. 2009. Randomized controlled trial in rural Ethiopia to assess a portable water treatment device. Environ. Sci. Technol., 43 (15), pp 5934–5939

Study design: 8-month randomized controlled trial among 313 households (1516 individuals) in remote, rural Ethiopia.

High health impact: 25% statistically significant reduction in diarrhoeal prevalence.

Field study: Elsanousi, S. et al. 2009. A study of the use and impacts of LifeStraw in a settlement camp in southern Gezira, Sudan. Journal of Water and Health; 07.3

Study design: 647 people from 134 households participated. Study design included no control group, seasonal influence on diarrhoea not taken into account.

Outcome: 15.3% of participants reported a diarrhoeal incident (recalled for the previous 2 weeks) at 3–4 months before distribution of LifeStraw^®, whereas only 2.3% reported diarrhoea (recalled for the previous 2 weeks) at the follow-up survey four months after distribution of LifeStraw^®.