Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Sep;34(9):1578-1594.
doi: 10.1002/hec.4977. Epub 2025 May 20.

Clear Waters, Bright Futures: Do Low-Cost Information Interventions Increase Health Preventive Behaviors

Rafi Amir-Ud-Din  1 , Muhammad Khan  1 , Zahra Murad  2   3 , Irene Mussio  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Clear Waters, Bright Futures: Do Low-Cost Information Interventions Increase Health Preventive Behaviors

Rafi Amir-Ud-Din et al. Health Econ. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Contaminated drinking water poses a significant, long-term health challenge in developing countries. With the aim of shedding light on the most effective presentation of this information in awareness campaigns, we run a randomized control trial involving 1388 households in Punjab, Pakistan. We provide information about fecal matter (E.Coli) presence in drinking water and on ways to treat water to make it potable. This intervention increases the likelihood of adopting in-home water purification for those households who were provided with information about water contamination results. Those informed of both water contamination and potential water treatment methods exhibit an even higher likelihood of behavior change. This study is evidence of the potential efficacy of low-cost information-based interventions, offering valuable insights for health policy in resource-constrained settings.

Keywords: RCT; behavioral change; health; information provision; water contamination.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Location of districts and villages.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Flowchart of intervention.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Percentage of households in each treatment arm that implemented water purification measures after Wave 3 (June 2018). Error bars are 95% confidence intervals. p‐values of percentage tests (horizontal lines represent the comparisons between: NT vs. PT, NT vs. FT and PT vs. FT): *p < 0.10, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Marginal effects from heterogeneity analysis of treatment effects to predict the implementation of water purification measures (Full Sample). Effects come from the regressions reported in columns (1–4) of Supporting Information S1: Table E4 in the Online Appendix. Error bars are 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Abramovsky, L. , Augsburg B., Lührmann M., Oteiza F., and Rud J. P.. 2023. “Community Matters: Heterogeneous Impacts of a Sanitation Intervention.” World Development 165: 106197. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106197. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Afridi, F. , Debnath S., and Somanathan E.. 2021. “A Breath of Fresh Air: Raising Awareness for Clean Fuel Adoption.” Journal of Development Economics 151: 102674. 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102674. - DOI
    1. Angrist, J. D. , and Pischke J. S.. 2009. Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion. Princeton university press.
    1. Augsburg, B. , Malde B., Olorenshaw H., and Wahhaj Z.. 2023. “To Invest or Not to Invest in Sanitation: The Role of Intra‐Household Gender Differences in Perceptions and Bargaining Power.” Journal of Development Economics 162: 103074. 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103074. - DOI
    1. Bain, R. , Johnston R., and Slaymaker T.. 2020. “Drinking Water Quality and the SDGs.” npj Clean Water 3, no. 1: 37. 10.1038/s41545-020-00085-z. - DOI

Publication types