Christine Marie George|Alexander van Geen|Vesna Slavkovich|Ashit Singha|Diane Levy|Tariqul Islam|Kazi Matin Ahmed|Joyce Moon-Howard|Alessandro Tarozzi|Xinhua Liu|Pam Factor?Litvak|Joseph H. Graziano
A cluster-based randomized controlled trial promoting community participation in arsenic mitigation efforts in Bangladesh
Johns Hopkins University|Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory|Columbia University|Johns Hopkins University|Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies|Columbia University|University of Dhaka|Columbia University|Duke University|Columbia University|Columbia University|Johns Hopkins University
reduce arsenic exposure evaluated effectiveness training community members perform water arsenic testing provide education compared sending representatives outside communities conduct taskswe conducted cluster based randomized controlled trial 20 villages singair bangladesh fifty eligible respondents randomly selected village 10 villages community member provided education testing second set 10 villages outside representative performed tasksoverall 53 respondents using contaminated wells relative bangladesh standard 50 gl baseline switched receiving intervention less 60 arsenic contaminated wells village classification used bangladeshi unicef 74 study households community tester villages 72 households outside tester villages reported switching safe drinking water source switching common outsidetester 63 versus communitytester villages 44 however adjusting availability arsenic safe drinking water sources well switching differ significantly type tester odds ratio 08695 confidence interval 042177 followup among using contaminated wells switched safe wells average urinary concentrations significantly decreasedthe overall intervention effective reducing exposure provided assafe drinking water sources available however significant difference observed ability community outside testers encourage study households use assafe water sources findings study suggest education testing programs provided testers irrespective residence could used effective low cost approach reduce exposure many asaffected areas bangladesh