PATH

Clean Drinking Water Communication

A stop sign is a clear messaging tool that provides a clear and simple instruction. Do you know if similar messages exist to tell people whether water is safe or unsafe to drink? If you weren’t sure if water was safe to drink, what messaging would convince you that it is safe to do so? Globally, there are no standard guidelines for how to convey this information. What would help you decide whether to take a drink? On signs, are words or pictures better? PATH is a global team of innovators working to accelerate health equity so all people and communities can thrive. PATH advises and partners with public institutions, businesses, grassroots groups, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing health challenges. PATH focuses on using a human centered design approach to bring clean and safe drinking water to health care facilities in low and middle income countries. As the climate changes, clean drinking water will become more and more of a challenge. Taking into consideration HCDE factors such as human behavior, communication methods, and accessibility and using information about handwashing efficacy as a qualitative research example, this student team worked to design communication strategies to influence behaviors and potentially help improve lives. This student team worked to create messaging to communicate information about safe water sources. Students worked to create a prototype and final documents intended to indicate safe water sources, such as physical images and files, digital versions of the same, and accompanying explanatory materials. Students also worked to create documents including product and user requirements, brainstorming records, study designs, data collection templates, and final presentation materials such as reports and posters.