By our correspondent
KARACHI: Researchers at Aga Khan University (AKU) have reported encouraging early results from a simple, low-cost household water filter that is significantly reducing diarrheal diseases and improving nutritional outcomes among children under five in rural Sindh.
The non-electric filter, costing only USD 5–8 per year, requires no fuel, electricity, or daily chemical dosing, making it suitable for resource-limited households. The study, conducted in flood-affected Jhangara, Jamshoro, recorded more than 98% adherence, with almost all participating families consistently using the filtered water.
Over an eight-month period, the intervention led to notable improvements in child nutrition: a 20% reduction in underweight children, 12% reduction in wasting, and 7% reduction in stunting. Professor Zafar Fatmi, Head of Environmental-Occupational Health & Climate Change at AKU, noted, “Safe water here is acting like nutrition. By preventing diarrhea, children can absorb food properly and recover faster.
This is the first time we are seeing a household water intervention with near-perfect adherence, which is why it is effective.” Dr Hira Tariq, Assistant Professor and Co-Principal Investigator, added that the filter’s simplicity is key: “Asking families to add chlorine every day is unrealistic in rural areas without piped water. This filter works quietly in the background, and communities have fully embraced it.”
The findings were shared at the dissemination seminar, “Water as Nutrition: How Clean Water Breaks the Malnutrition Cycle in Sindh,” where a policy panel including WaterAid, Pakistan Council for Water Resources, and governmental health agencies discussed the potential for scaling up the technology.
Professor Asad Ali, Chair of AKU’s Department of Community Health Sciences, emphasized, “If scaled up, this low-cost intervention could dramatically reduce diarrhea, malnutrition, and preventable child deaths across rural Pakistan.”
