Stephanie Haviaras
Research Mentor: Elisa Maria Maffioli
Mentor Department: Health Management and Policy, Public Health
Author(s): Stephanie Haviaras, Cedrick Coburn, Elisa Maffioli
Session: Session 1 (9:00 AM – 9:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 84
Abstract
Several global health research initiatives have highlighted the importance of water quality interventions in reducing child morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. This study compiles and synthesizes cross-country data to identify patterns in child health outcomes associated with diarrhea across African countries. The goal is to inform where a community-based chlorination access model could be most effectively implemented. Data on access to population with safely managed water, use of basic drinking water services, and prevalence of chlorination were assembled from publicly available sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). These indicators were analyzed alongside all-cause and diarrhea-specific mortality rates among children under five, obtained from the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME). Rather than evaluating a single intervention, this analysis provides a comparative landscape of water access, treatment practices, and child health outcomes across countries. This approach allows for the identification of settings where gaps in safe water access and high diarrheal burden coincide, highlighting priority contexts where chlorination interventions may have the greatest potential impact. Preliminary findings suggest that diarrhea-related mortality remains high in several countries despite varying levels of water access, underscoring the importance of understanding not only infrastructure coverage but also water quality and treatment practices. Guided by these insights, future research will explore and evaluate targeted strategies to improve water quality and thus improve health outcomes, such as point-of-use chlorination efforts and passive chlorination interventions.
