Seasonal Preferences and Alternatives for Domestic Water Sources: A Prospective Cohort Study in Malawi
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Access to a sufficient quantity of safe water is widely recognized as fundamental to ensure health and prevent water- and excreta-related diseases. The objective of this study is to analyze seasonal variations in household preferences and alternatives in accessing domestic water, including for drinking, and to identify predictors for the use of multiple water sources. A prospective cohort study was conducted in Malawi, and data were collected using structured household questionnaires and water quality testing. Results showed that households fetching water were more likely to rely on multiple water sources during the rainy season, compared to the dry season. When access to a single water source is insufficient, and/or the main water source is broken or not functional, households use additional water sources that are more likely to be contaminated or distant as a coping strategy. Water source reliability (i.e., functionality and availability) and proximity to water sources (i.e., time to collect water, waiting time) were found to be the most important factors influencing households’ preferences. Ensuring reliable and continuous access, throughout the seasons, to at least a single water source that is located in proximity to the household is a key intervention to reduce the fetching burden.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".