More than one in every six people in the world is water stressed, meaning that they do not have access to drinking water. Most of those lacking adequate access to drinking water are living in developing and emerging countries, of which Sub-Saharan Africa contains the largest number of water stressed countries of any region with almost one fourth of the population living in a water stressed country.

Waterborne diseases and hospital acquired infections represent a considerable risk to patients and attendance who may be immunosuppressed or vulnerable to infections, as well as young children, pregnant women, the elderly and the disabled.

WHO report on WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) in health care facilities analysing data from 54 countries, representing 66101 facilities show that, “38% of health care facilities do not have an improved water source, 19% do not have improved sanitation and 35% do not have water and soap for handwashing. Furthermore, when not only presence of improved source but also safety and continuity of it is considered in the assessment, coverage dropped by half (WHO, 2015)”

Providing a sustainable and viable solution to these regions is challenging and so far largely unsuccessful for various reasons which include:

1. poverty – inability to afford the cost of an appropriate solution;
2. rough environment – extremely high temperatures, humidity and dust, that exceed the tolerance levels of the technology;
3. unstable electric power supply that damages appliances;
4. lack of skilled personnel for maintenance and repair of appliances.