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Abstract #237177

Designing Sustainable Local Approaches to Lower Arsenic Exposure in Bangladesh

Christine Marie George1, Tariqul Islam, PhD2, Khaled Hasan2, Vesna Slavkovich, MS1, Diane Levy, MSPH
litvak, PhD4, Joyce Moon-Howard, MPH, Dr PH5, Alessandro Tarozzi, PhD6, Kazi Matin Uddin Ahmed Ahmed, PhD
PhD8 and Joseph Graziano, PhD1, (1)Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, (2)Columbia
University Arsenic & Health Research in Bangladesh, Columbia University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, (3)Department of Biostatistics, Columbia
University, New York, NY, (4)Epidemiology Department, Columbia University, New York, NY, (5)Department of Sociomedical Sciences,
Columbia University, New York, NY, (6)Department of Economics, Duke University, Durham, NC, (7)Department of Geology, University of
Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, (8)Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY
Abstract Text:
In Bangladesh over 50 million people are exposed to naturally occurring arsenic concentrations exceeding the WHO standard of 10 g/L,
even though arsenic safe water is often available within a short walking distance. Arsenic mitigation typically involves a person coming into
a village to test the well water for arsenic. This person often leaves the village without providing the resources to address health concerns
or advice on mitigation options.
We developed an arsenic education training program for local staff and conducted a longitudinal intervention study of 20 villages to
investigate the impact of having local resident staff conduct water arsenic testing and to provide arsenic awareness education as well as
mitigation options on arsenic exposure. A pre- and post-intervention questionnaire was administered to the person in each randomly
selected household responsible for primary drinking water collection. The results of this study, conducted in 20 villages in Singair,
Bangladesh, indicate that locally trained arsenic testers were able to encourage on average 58 percent of study households in their
assigned villages with unsafe wells to switch to alternative drinking water sources. This is almost twice the amount of well switching rate
observed in areas of Bangladesh that only received well water arsenic testing by outside testers in the World Bank sponsored Bangladesh
Arsenic Mitigation Water Supply Project. This intervention approach provides a sustainable option for arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh
that could be used by local government agencies to conduct future arsenic interventions.

Session 3151: International Environmental Health Issues (ID=32324)

Session Type: Oral
Session Scheduled: Monday, October 31, 2011: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
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