Solar-powered water supply systems have been implemented in various Ethiopian villages to address basic needs such as drinking water and sanitation. A comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model with robust standard errors to account for heterogeneity among studies. The analysis revealed that solar-powered water supply systems significantly reduced waterborne illnesses (p < 0. 01) and improved economic productivity by up to 25% in participating communities. Despite initial high costs, the long-term benefits of these systems outweighed their expenses, particularly in terms of health improvements and cost savings. Policy makers should prioritise funding for solar-powered water supply systems as a sustainable intervention for improving public health outcomes in rural areas. Treatment effect was estimated with logit (pᵢ) =₀+^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.
Mekuria et al. (Sat,) studied this question.