Household Drinking Water Filtration Technologies Used to Reduce Diarrhea in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene contribute to over 3.5 billion episodes of diarrhea each year, many of which can be reduced by technologies such as point-of-use (POU)household water filters. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on household POU filtration in developing countries found 14 intervention studies documenting reductions of endemic diarrheal disease in all ages and in children under five years old. Results suggest bias within the literature possibly from lack of blinding within study protocols, or from correlation among study characteristics. Random-effects meta-regression analyses suggest ceramic candle type filters were more effective than other filter types. Overall meta-analysis results suggest that future research on the health benefits of POU filtration should focus on children between the ages of two and four years old, populations in Sub-Saharan Africa, and head-to-head comparisons of filter type.Master of Science in Public Healt