The "Safe Water Systems" campaign introduced the Indonesian people to Air Rahmat, a water treatment product that eliminates micro organisms in drinking water.
Unsafe drinking water is a major cause of diarrhea; and diarrhea is the second leading killer of children under five in Indonesia. Boiling water in Indonesia is a universal practice, however, stored drinking water at home continues to be found contaminated with E.coli, a bacterial indicator of fecal contamination. This is in part the result of lack of proper hygiene and sanitation practices and the fact that boiling does not protect water from recontamination. Air RahMat, low-cost water disinfection technology was introduced in Indonesia in 2005 to provide households with an alternative technology to prepare their drinking water. The water treatment product is a 1.25% sodium hypochlorite solution (developed by the CDC) that kills harmful micro-organisms in water and leaves a layer of protection against recontamination. When used correctly in conjunction with proper storage, studies have shown that Air RahMat can protect water from recontamination for two or three days and has can reduce the risk of diarrhea up to 85%.
As part of its Aman Tirta program (Safe Water Systems), the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communications Programs (CCP) in partnership with PT Tanshia Consumer Products (private producer and distributor) and CARE Indonesia, introduced Air RahMat to Indonesian households. After 5 years of promotional activities and product marketing, the product is widely known to Indonesians and is currently used by some households. The advocacy efforts of Aman Tirta developed in a successful partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Health to develop a Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) policy that endorses the use of a range of different technologies besides boiling. This policy led to the overall Community Based Total Sanitation (STBM) strategy that includes 5 pillars (open defecation free, hand washing with soap, HWTS, solid waste management, and waste water management). This policy has helped open the door to other treatment technologies that 5 years ago were totally unknown to Indonesian households. The Ministry of Health announced that HWTS, through the STBM policy is now being scaled up to be implemented in 330 districts or 20,000 villages, by 2014, ensuring the sustainability of Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage in Indonesia.
The program had its closing event on February 1st 2010, where Lessons Learned were shared to continue to path the way for improved hygiene and access to safe water for all children and households across Indonesia.
