![]() In 2016, UNICEF launched a target product profile to guide and encourage industry to develop a rapid test to be deployed at the community level in remote and resource poor settings. With current testing products being both time consuming and impractical for remote settings, UNICEF and government partners are limited in their ability to undertake regular testing, support communities to understand the risk their drinking water poses or launch community-led water quality monitoring programmes. It can also be complex to interpret the results.” One testing approach even requires the water surveyor to strap the samples to their waist and incubate them for 24 hours with their body heat. “Much of the equipment used is too bulky to carry to remote locations and requires training to ensure samples are not contaminated. “Currently, it is difficult to run water testing programmes in remote and low-resource settings as current portable tests take a long time to return a result,” says Esther Shaylor, UNICEF Water and Sanitation Engineer and Project Manager for the Rapid Water Quality Testing innovation project. To change this, UNICEF is working with industry to develop a faster and simpler test through the Rapid Water Quality Testing innovation project, which if achieved has the potential to help create a massive global impact for children. This means these communities are often left out of monitoring surveys. Many national water surveys used to monitor progress against Sustainable Development Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation) also rely on lab testing, but water sources in rural communities can be too far from facilities for samples to arrive in time. However, current testing approaches are time consuming, taking 18 to 24 hours to produce results. To support this, UNICEF works with governments and communities to test household and community water sources for faecal contamination. Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are fundamental to ensure children are healthy and can attend school.
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