As part of our ongoing collaboration with the Yale School of Public Health, Laura, Natalie, and Daniel represented EWB-Yale at the annual American Public Health Association (APHA) conference in Boston.
Daniel gave a talk about how our community-based approach to assessing the health impact of the Roh water system has played a crucial role in our project. Namely, it discovered high rates of drinking water contamination in homes that collected water from clean standpipes, and allowed for a diffusion-type model in which willing community members are acting as dissemination agents for vessel disinfection techniques. We believe that working with the community in the development of all aspects of our project — including engineering and public health — makes it easier to propagate sanitary water handling practices throughout Roh. Our project is not done until access to clean water translates to a reduction in the prevalence of waterborne illnesses, and these behavioral changes are a necessary step in that direction.