Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

Mumtaz Arthur and colleagues of Biofilcom Ltd. in Ghana will develop and field test a prototype toilet facility that incorporates an aerobic digester to decompose waste along with a low-cost microflush valve that uses minimal amounts of wastewater from the washbasins to improve sanitation and user experience. The field tests will help assess and refine cultural, sanitation, and financial aspects of these community facilities.

Arsenic is a metal considered dangerous to human health because it causes gastrointestinal disorders, skin injuries and is strongly associated with cancer. Underground well water in Peru often has arsenic levels well above the permissible limits for human consumption. Unfortunately, this groundwater is being used by people in rural areas for irrigation and food preparation. Treating the water is possible, but the chemical process is expensive and unsustainable in a rural setting.

When waterways, rivers, lakes and freshwater reservoirs are polluted with untreated or poorly treated wastewater, this has a major impact on the environment, the economy of a country and the health of its population. In Peru, as in many other countries, oxidation ponds are often used for simple secondary treatment of sewage effluents. However, poor design, inadequate maintenance work, the unstoppable industrial development and population growth around urban centres has led to a progressive loss of efficiency of these ponds, and even to the collapse of some locations.

In Peru, 13% of children under five struggle with diarrhea. Access to clean water reduces this number, as well as the incidence of other infectious diseases. Unfortunately, Peruvian rural villages have little access to clean water and show a lack of good hygiene habits because the water is too cold to use without some form of heating. This situation is related with poverty and sparse development opportunities. The Peruvian government has been providing improved cook stoves to the poorest and most vulnerable people in the country through social programs.

Learning from Existing Commercial Product Services

100% Sanitation Coverage in Haiti - A Sustainable Business Model for Ecological Sanitation

iDE, a Winnipeg based non-profit organization that supports business opportunities in the developing world, will work with Nepali small business owners and local entrepreneurs to scale up the production, marketing and sale of simple latrines, using a novel approach successfully demonstrated in Cambodia and Nepal: marketing simple, low-cost toilets as a status symbol and sanitation as an affordable source of pride.  “The traditional approach – standard public health messages coupled with giveaway programs that sideline local businesses – is not working”, says Stu Taylor, iDE’s Director

Menstrual health is central to each woman's ability to lead lives of dignity and well-being in every part of the world. Yet, lack of access to affordable feminine hygiene products is a widely overlooked issue, which has a profound and cascading negative impact on the health, education and productivity of millions of girls and women, especially in emerging economies. In East Africa, four in five women do not have regular access to sanitary pads or related reproductive health education. In a region where over 40% of females are under the age of 15, this is a rapidly escalating problem.

Dropped into any shape and size of water bottle, CleanCube is designed to remove pathogens that cause illness and can lead to preventable death. The goal of this socially innovative product is to provide clean water in the Global South, while leveraging sales from the North American market in order to spur economic opportunity and save lives.