More than 500,000 children die annually from diarrheal disease in India, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for a significant portion of this burden. Although the World Health Organization and UNICEF recommend the use of zinc treatment, along with oral rehydration therapy, as the best way to decrease the incidence and severity of diarrheal disease, finding ways to get these life-saving treatments to the people who need them most – low-income and other vulnerable populations -- can be challenging.

POUZN’s mission is to implement a diarrhea reduction project using point-of-use (POU) water disinfection and zinc treatment, with the goal of contributing to the key USAID strategy of reducing mortality and morbidity from diarrhea. POUZN’s approach is to engage both the commercial and public sectors and leverage their strengths and resources to address the critical public health issue of diarrheal disease.

POUZN enlists the private sector in the marketing, distribution and sale of POU and zinc products in order to ensure long-term sustainability. POUZN’s approach is not to create new distribution channels or run parallel marketing campaigns to the commercial sector, as those types of channels will exist only as long as there is donor funding. Instead, it provides incentives and demonstrates to local manufacturers and distributors both the marketability of these products and the social and economic return.