Here’s how Purdue is improving water safety in Afghanistan

One in 10 Afghan children will die before their fifth birthday. And 20 percent of those childhood deaths will be because of diarrheal diseases arising from unsafe food and water. When an Afghan student in Herat Province told Haley Oliver that her neighbor’s children were often sick, she wanted a sample of the family’s well water. “Sure enough, it was loaded with E. coli. It was one of the most contaminated samples we found. It turns out the family’s well is right near the outdoor latrine,” said Oliver, a Purdue associate professor of food science. “That’s unfortunately quite common because there is a gap in knowledge in how disease is transmitted.” Oliver and Purdue colleagues are attempting to narrow that knowledge gap.