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1. How Do Rural Ethiopians Rate the Severity of Water Insecurity Scale Items? Implications for Water Insecurity Measurement and Interventions

   https://doi.org/10.17730/1938-3525.79.2.95  

   Tesfaye, Yihenew ; Maes, Kenneth ; Abesha, Roza ; Young, Sera ; Snyder, Jedidiah S. ; Gebremariam, Abebe ; Freeman, Matthew C. ( June 2020 , Human Organization)

   null (Ed.)

   Recently developed scales aim to advance understanding of household water insecurity and inform interventions to address this critical global problem. The relative severity of items included in household water insecurity scales has been established as an inverse of the proportion of the population that reports experiencing the item. Here, we assess subjective perceptions of scale item severity among people who experience household water insecurity. In 2017, we surveyed 259 women in Amhara, Ethiopia, assessing both experiences of water insecurity and perceptions of item severity using a pictorial scale. The mean subjective severity of most items was at the high end of our pictorial scale. Subjective severity of items was not associated with whether or not a participant experienced the item in the last thirty days, with a participant’s summary household water insecurity score, or with rural versus peri-urban residence, but was consistently associated with community of residence. Item severity as defined by the proportion of the population experiencing the item aligned with average perceptions of item severity, with one exception: drinking water that might not be safe. We discuss these findings’ implications for water insecurity measurement, evaluation of interventions, and studies of the relationship between water insecurity and psychological distress. 

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2. Gender identities, water insecurity, and risk: Re‐theorizing the connections for a gender‐inclusive toolkit for water insecurity research

   https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1685  

   Brewis, Alexandra ; DuBois, L. Zachary ; Wutich, Amber ; Adams, Ellis Adjei ; Dickin, Sarah ; Elliott, Susan J. ; Empinotti, Vanessa Lucena ; Harris, Leila M. ; Ilboudo Nébié, Elisabeth ; Korzenevica, Marina ( August 2023 , WIREs Water)

   Informed by decades of literature, water interventions increasingly deploy “gender‐sensitive” or even “gender transformative” approaches that seek to redress the disproportionate harms women face from water insecurity. These efforts recognize the role of gendered social norms and unequal power relations but often focus narrowly on the differences and dynamics between cisgender (cis) men and women. This approach renders less visible the ways that living with water insecurity can differentially affect all individuals through the dynamics of gender, sexuality, and linked intersecting identities. Here, we first share a conceptual toolkit that explains gender as fluid, negotiated, and diverse beyond the cis‐binary. Using this as a starting point, we then review what is known and can be theorized from current literature, identifying limited observations from water‐insecure communities to identify examples of contexts where gendered mechanisms (such as social norms) differentiate experiences of water insecurity, such as elevating risks of social stigma, physical harm, or psychological distress. We then apply this approach to consider expanded ways to include transgender, non‐binary, and gender and sexual diversity to deepen, nuance and expand key thematics and approaches for water insecurity research. Reconceptualizing gender in these ways widens theoretical possibilities, changes how we collect data, and imagines new possibilities for effective and just water interventions.

   This article is categorized under:

   Human Water > Value of Water

   Engineering Water > Water, Health, and Sanitation

   Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented

   Human Water > Methods

    

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3. The co-occurrence of water insecurity and food insecurity among Daasanach pastoralists in northern Kenya

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980022001689  

   Bethancourt, Hilary J ; Swanson, Zane S ; Nzunza, Rosemary ; Young, Sera L ; Lomeiku, Luke ; Douglass, Matthew J ; Braun, David R ; Ndiema, Emmanuel K ; Pontzer, Herman ; Rosinger, Asher Yoel ( March 2023 , Public Health Nutrition)

   Abstract Objective: Water plays a critical role in the production of food and preparation of nutritious meals, yet few studies have examined the relationship between water and food insecurity. The primary objective of this study, therefore, was to examine how experiences of household water insecurity (HWI) relate to experiences of household food insecurity (HFI) among a pastoralist population living in an arid, water-stressed region of northern Kenya. Design: We implemented the twelve-item Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE, range 0–36) Scale and the nine-item Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS, range 0–27) in a cross-sectional survey to measure HWI and HFI, respectively. Data on socio-demographic characteristics and intake of meat and dairy in the prior week were collected as covariates of interest. Setting: Northern Kenya, June–July 2019. Participants: Daasanach pastoralist households ( n 136) from seven communities. Results: In the prior 4 weeks, 93·4 % and 98·5 % of households had experienced moderate-to-severe HWI and HFI, respectively. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated a strong association between HWI and HFI. Each point higher HWISE score was associated with a 0·44-point (95 % CI: 0·22, 0·66, P = 0·003) higher HFIAS score adjusting for socio-economic status and other covariates. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate high prevalence and co-occurrence of HWI and HFI among Daasanach pastoralists in northern Kenya. This study highlights the need to address HWI and HFI simultaneously when developing policies and interventions to improve the nutritional well-being of populations whose subsistence is closely tied to water availability and access. 

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4. The syndemic effects of food insecurity, water insecurity, and HIV on depressive symptomatology among Kenyan women

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113043  

   Boateng, Godfred O. ; Workman, Cassandra L. ; Miller, Joshua D. ; Onono, Maricianah ; Neilands, Torsten B. ; Young, Sera L. ( May 2020 , Social Science & Medicine)

   null (Ed.)
5. Water insecurity compounds the global coronavirus crisis

   https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2020.1769345  

   Staddon, C. ; Everard, M. ; Mytton, J. ; Octavianti, T. ; Powell, W. ; Quinn, N. ; Uddin, S. M. ; Young, S. L. ; Miller, J. D. ; Budds, J. ; et al ( July 2020 , Water International)