SPPA Associate Professor Vivian Hoffmann
Unsafe water is responsible for over a million deaths each year. Characterizing households’ access to water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure is a critical first step toward addressing this problem
SPPA Associate Professor Vivian Hoffmann is co-author on recent paper “Access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and drinking water contamination risk levels in households of Bishoftu Town, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study” (Health Science Reports Open Access Volume 6, Issue 11November 2023 Article number e1662)
Abstract Excerpt
Background and Aims: Access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene is a fundamental human right and essential to control infectious diseases. However, many countries, including Ethiopia, do not have adequate data to report on basic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. Although contaminated drinking water spreads diseases like cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, and dysentery, studies on drinking water contamination risk levels in households are limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, closing this gap needs investigation.
Conclusions: The majority of households in Bishoftu town lack access to safely managed sanitation, drinking water, and basic hygiene services. Many households’ water samples had very high and high health risk levels. Hence, the government and partner organizations should implement water and sanitation safety plans.