title: Relative benefits of on-plot water supply over other 'improved' sources in rural Vietnam.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Access to improved water sources is rapidly expanding in rural central Vietnam. We examined one NGO-led piped water supply programme to assess the drinking water quality and health impacts of piped water systems where access to 'improved' water sources is already good.
  
  
  METHODS
  This longitudinal, prospective cohort study followed 300 households in seven project areas in Da Nang province, Vietnam: 224 households who paid for an on-plot piped water connection and 76 control households from the same areas relying primarily on 'improved' water sources outside the home. The 4-month study was intended to measure the impact of the NGO-led water programmes on households' drinking water quality and health and to evaluate system performance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that: (i) households connected to a piped water supply had consistently better drinking water quality than those relying on other sources, including 'improved' sources and (ii) connected households experienced less diarrhoea than households without a piped water connection (adjusted longitudinal prevalence ratio: 0.57 (95% CI 0.39-0.86, P = 0.006) and households using an 'improved' source not piped to the plot: (adjusted longitudinal prevalence ratio: 0.59 (95% CI 0.39-0.91, P = 0.018).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that on-plot water service yields benefits over other sources that are considered 'improved' by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme.
authors.affiliation: Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. joe.brown@lshtm.ac.uk
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Vo Thi
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Hien
authors.forename: Lanakila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McMahan
authors.forename: Marion W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thie
authors.forename: Kaida
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Printy
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Sobsey
mesh_terms: D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000592:standards*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology; D060753:Water Quality; D014881:Water Supply / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water