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The jerry can: Greatest development in the water sector in the last 30 years
01.10.2011
The jerry can is proposed as a major innovation which has spread without assistance in Africa. It has particular relevance to women, since the backbreaking work of carrying water is now shared with men. -
Handwashing before drawing water: a sixth critical time?
01.04.2015
The promotion of critical times for handwashing has done much to improve knowledge on hygiene, even if rather less on the practice. However while there has long been a recognition of the need to wash hands before preparing food, there has never been any mention of taking the same precautions before drawing water. With almost half of rural Africa still taking water either by bucket and rope or by scooping water from surface and shallow ground water, lack of handwashing can not only lead to contamination of the water being carried home, but also of the source itself, as demonstrated by source water quality monitoring detailed in this paper. Even for those taking water from better protected sources, dirty hands can lead to contamination of collected water, especially where bowls and buckets are the main vessels for water transport. Handwashing before water collection is proposed as an additional barrier to faecal-oral contamination, to make a sixth critical time.