New tools to assess health impacts of taps & toilets

Abstract

Basic services Authorities have spent millions of Rands on improving access to safe water and sanitation in communities during the last decade. But how do we measure the improvements in the lives of the people these interventions are meant to serve? A three-year Water Research Commission (WRC) project aims to quantify just that. Lani van Vuuren reports. The Department of Water Affairs & Forestry remains positive that South Africa will eradicate its water supply backlog by 2008 and the general sanitation backlog by 2010. An estimated 14% of South Africa’s population still makes use of unsafe water resources, while 27% of the country’s people still do not have access to adequate sanitation. However, to date there has been no real way in which to measure how much of a positive impact these water and sanitation interventions are making on affected communities.

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