NCT02239250

Water Filters and Improved Cookstoves in Western Rwanda

Assessing the Health Impact of Advance Water Filters and Improved Cookstoves in Western Province, Rwanda: A Cluster-randomised Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,582 (actual)
• Sponsor: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 5 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

DelAgua Health Rwanda (Implementation) Ltd. together with Rwanda Ministry of Health (MoH) are delivering an intervention, consisting on the free distribution of one advance water filter and one improved cookstove to all household classified as ubudehe 1 and 2 according to government approved registers (poorest tertile), in Western Province. The aim of this intervention is to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia in Rwanda. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) will be undertaking an independent evaluation of this large-scale intervention to assess its impact on health. The trial will evaluate whether the provision of improved cookstoves and advance water filters can reduce pneumonia and diarrhoea disease in children under 5 years of age. A cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT) with two arms of unequal size (3:1 ratio) will be use to answer this question. The 96 sectors in Western Province, Rwanda, will be randomised to either receive the intervention or the control. Each eligible household in intervention sectors will receive one EcoZoom™ Spartan and one Vestergaard Frandsen Lifestraw Family™ 2.1 water filter free of charge. Eligible households in control sectors will continue with their traditional cooking and drinking practices. Health data on children under 5 years of age will be collected from community health worker (CHW) and health facility records all across Western Province to evaluate the health impact of the intervention. The study will encompass 12 months of follow-up. After this time the control sectors will receive the intervention. This independent evaluation will also include a nested village-level study within the larger sector-level study, with the aim to evaluate uptake, consistent use and acceptability of the intervention, as well as to assess the impact on environmental exposures and health outcomes. 174 villages (74 controls and 74 intervention) will be selected for participation. Household surveys will be used to collect data on intervention use and acceptability as well as on self-reported health data. Water samples will be collected and monitoring of exposure to Households Air Pollution (HAP) will be undertaken. Measurements of blood pressure, expirated Carbon monoxide (CO) and pulse CO-oximetry will be undertake in primary cooks and or children under 5 years of age. Additionally, as part of this nested study, two exploratory studies will also be conducted. One will be focused on assessing the potential of biomarkers as indicators of environmental exposures (mainly HAP and water quality) and health status, while the other exploratory sub-study will assess the reactivity of participants to the use of remotely reporting electronic sensors to measure target behaviours.

Conditions

• Diarrhoeal Disease
• Respiratory Infection
• Pneumonia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Water filter and cookstove	The Vestergaard Frandsen Lifestraw Family™ 2.1 is a point-of-use water treatment system.Water is poured through a 20 micron pre-filter into a 6L influent water tank.This water then filters through a 0.20 micron hollow-fiber ultrafiltration membrane into a 5.5L storage container.Water is then poured through a plastic tap, which prevents re-contamination.This system filters up to 18,000L of water.The system exceeds the WHO's "highly protective" standard for household water treatment technologies.The EcoZoom™ Spartan stove concentrates the combustion process while channeling airflow to completely burn the fuel provided.The stove has a ceramic combustion chamber within a steel housing, which is topped with a cast iron stove.The stove includes a rack for placing firewood and a pot skirt that improves the thermal efficiency.The cookstoves and filters will be delivered together at no cost to participating households.Households will receive instructions on how to operate these devices.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-08-01
• Primary completion: 2016-03-01
• Completion: 2016-03-01
• First posted: 2014-09-12
• Last updated: 2016-09-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Rwanda