Solvatten helps prevent life-threatening diseases

Lack of access to safe drinking water, together with inadequate sanitation and hygiene, are the main causes of the 1.8 million deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases each year. It is common knowledge that boiling can make water safe to drink.  It is not as widely known that UV light also kills micro-organisms: this is one of the water treatment methods used within Solvatten.

Use of Solvatten can also improve health in other ways.  Over 80 million householder globally boil their water to make it safe and typically they do this using a simple stove and solid fuel. In Africa, many kitchens are enclosed rooms without chimneys:  the smoke-filled working conditions can have severe health effects, including burns and lung disease. When use of Solvatten replaces boiling then the use of the stoves can be reduced and less time is spent in this environment.

Solvatten can improve health in the following ways:

• It reduce rhe number of  cases of diarrhoeal and therefore improves weight gain for children and reduces mortality
• It provides safe  and warm water for midwives to reduce maternal mortality
• It provides safe water for drinking and warm water for hygiene and sanitation so people’s susceptibility to major diseases is reduced
• It reduces use of smoky fires indoors so burns and lung diseases are prevented.
• It can be rapidly delivered to and used by vulnerable populations.