Introduction

Water and sanitation as a global issue

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 844 million people lack access to even basic drinking water services (WHO, 2018); 2 billion people use water contaminated with fecal residue, resulting in the death of 842,000 people due to diarrheal diseases each year, about 43% of whom are children under the age of five (WHO, 2018). Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are global issues that Antenna is tackling through its activities researching and testing solutions.

Water & hygiene approach

We develop and adapt innovative technologies and solutions that seek to improve the water and hygiene conditions of the most disadvantaged people. This process follows a three-step model :

  1. R&D and prototyping – Partnering with research institutions and academia
  2. Field testing through pilot projects
  3. Scaling up solutions through:
    • Social entrepreneurs – by developing business models and partnering with or incubating new local social enterprises
    • Local authorities
    • Local NGOs – through partnerships
    • Schools

Our experiences and success stories help us extract lessons learnt that are vital to improving future projects.

Antenna’s spin-off WATALUX

Over the last decade, the Antenna Foundation has developed the technology  WATA, a simple and robust range of devices to autonomously produce active chlorine to treat water and disinfect surfaces and objects.

In 2018, we created the spin-off WATALUX to accelerate the commercialisation of the technology. Find out more about the company and the devices.

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

For more information : wash@antenna.ch