SOCIAL SPECIAL.. LOW COST WATER PURIFIER FOR RURAL HOUSEHOLDS

LOW COST WATER PURIFIER FOR RURAL HOUSEHOLDS  WATERMARK  A proposal to test a low-cost device for water purification of drinking water in poor households of India and Kenya has won a $100,000 (Cdn) grant from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC).     In developing countries, particularly in rural villages and urban slums, people can hardly afford water-purification systems. The consequences are fatal, with infectious diarrhoea causing around 2.2 million deaths every year, most of which are children under the age of five from countries like Kenya and India.     An answer to this problem could be a low-cost, point-of-use copper device for microbial purification of drinking water. Developed and laboratory-tested by Padma Venkat, a student of the International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management in Montreal, and her team from the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (I-AIM), Bangalore, it kills waterborne pathogen that cause cholera and diarrhoea. She, along with two other IMHL students, have won a grant of $100,000 (Cdn) from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC).     Venkat, also the director of the Institute of Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine (IAIM), says that the idea was inspired by the traditional Indian practice of storing drinking water in copper pots. “We studied the scientific basis behind it and demonstrated that copper pots kill water-borne diarrhoeacausing pathogen by passive storage. Since copper pots are unaffordable, we designed and standardised a device that is as effective as the pot.”     Subsequent to encouraging laboratory findings, Venkat, despite several attempts at raising grants within India, was not successful in securing funds for almost three years. However, the research, in-sync with a 21st century approach, is a story of collaboration.     Caroline Kisia and Ahmad Firas Khalid are also students of International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) programme at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management. As the executive director of Action Africa Help International AAH-I), an NGO based in Nairobi, Kisia connected with the copper device’s potential impact and sent Venkat the GCC link, asking whether they could submit a joint proposal. “Excited at the prospect, I suggested we ask classmate Khalid, a strategist from Jordan who currently teaches medical practice in Ottawa, to join us. Khalid agreed and suggested we ask Leslie Breitner, our IMHL Cycle Director, to mentor us. Breitner has since provided assistance while McGill has lent its name to our collaboration. Subsequently, others joined in; Judith Horrell, who works at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, has been instrumental with the communication and public engagement part of the work, while Satish Chetlapalli, dean of public health at SRM University in Chennai, India, helped with the design of the field study,” Venkat adds.     AT A GLANCE What is it: A low-cost, point-ofuse copper device for microbial purification of drinking water Where to get: If the field trial is successful, the device will be commercially manufactured Price: Currently, the market price is around Rs 500. It may further work out to be cheaper when commercially manufactured

Tirna Ray EDUT130610