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Public HealthDefaultPositive

Chlorine Dispensers at Water Sources

Innovations for Poverty Action / Evidence Action · Western Kenya · 2007

Summary

The chlorine dispenser experiment found that placing chlorine at the point of collection — removing the step of transporting it home — raised uptake from 10% to 61% compared to household bottle distribution. The mechanism is action facilitation: making the desired behavior (treating water before carrying it home) the path of least resistance. The 26% reduction in child diarrhea incidence confirmed the health impact. Evidence Action scaled the program using this evidence and now reaches over 5 million people, making it one of the most successful scale-ups of a behavioral insight in global health.

Research question

"Can point-of-collection chlorine dispensers increase water treatment rates more than free chlorine bottle distribution?"

Methodology

Intervention

Chlorine dispensers installed at community water collection points (springs, wells); free chlorine available at point of use vs. free chlorine bottles distributed to households

Assignment

Randomized controlled trial (spring-level)

Sample size

140 springs; 12,000 households

Primary outcome

Chlorine uptake rate; household water chlorination; child diarrhea incidence

Effect estimate

Chlorine uptake: 61% vs. 10% for bottle distribution; diarrhea incidence: -26% in dispenser communities

Decision

Evidence Action scaled dispenser program to 5 million people across Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Zambia

Result

Positive

Chlorine uptake: 61% vs. 10% for bottle distribution; diarrhea incidence: -26% in dispenser communities

Evidence strength

Strong

Randomized trial, replicated across multiple sites or studies.

Replication status

Replicated

Institution

Innovations for Poverty Action / Evidence Action

Location

Western Kenya

Year

2007

Policy area

Public Health

Mechanism

Default

More from these institutions

Other trials of this mechanism

Cite this entry

Innovations for Poverty Action / Evidence Action. (2007). Chlorine Dispensers at Water Sources. The Experiment Society Registry. Retrieved from https://www.experimentsociety.org/registry/chlorine-dispenser-kenya (primary report: https://www.poverty-action.org/study/chlorine-dispensers-springs-kenya)

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