‘When you have no water, it means you have no peace': a mixed-methods, whole-population study of water insecurity and depression in rural Uganda

In the citing paper

“When men or boys do collect water, it has been more acceptable when they consider it 'helping' women [261] or use technology-like bicycles, wheelbarrows, or motorcycles-while women and girls are expected to carry water [123, 165, 229, 258, 261].”

In the citing paper

“Furthermore, it appeared that the lack of proper maintenance of water systems and infrastructure by authorities in most places altered water availability in ways that increased bother and distress (Khatri and Vairavamoorthy, 2007; Mushavi et al., 2020; Pearson et al., 2015; Pamla et al., 2021).”

In the citing paper

“Prior studies (Mushavi et al., 2020; Goldin, 2010; Khodarahimi et al., 2014a; Stevenson et al., 2016) found that community members experience increased bother and emotional distress due to altered water availability, water shortages and insecurity.”

In the citing paper

“In Bangladesh, [110] India, [279] and Uganda [165] women relied on social networks to access water, but noted that relationships could be strained or unreliable when water was scarce.”

In the citing paper

“Fetching water from far water resources disrupted community members' daily activities, took over people's daily schedules and disorganized their chores (Mushavi et al., 2020; Hove et al., 2019; UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), 2021).”

In the citing paper

“Moreover, Mushavi et al. (2020) reported that water insecurity made it difficult for some women to maintain good hygiene, which potentially jeopardized their standing with others in the community.”

In the citing paper

“Mushavi et al. (2020) further indicated that excess water demand at public water sources frequently caused verbal and physical disputes and conflicts among people in the queue.”

In the citing paper

“In Uganda, outside of refugee contexts, water insecurity has been associated with increased risk of emotional distress (Mushavi et al. 2020), sexual violence (Pommells et al. 2018), and missed educational opportunities (Cooper-Vince et al. 2017).”

In the citing paper

“As water insecurity and its impacts are ampli fi ed by gender-unequal norms”

In the citing paper

“Women's collective action has led to funding, demand, construction, repair, and maintenance of water services [56, 61, 73, 78, 89, 91, 125, 129, 163, 165, 168, 169, 193, 296] and latrines [129, 139, 147, 168, 170, 174, 175].”

In the citing paper

“Inadequate water provision and collection behaviors were reported to influence intimate partner violence [26,75,101,108,111,153,165,179,198,231,260,264,266].Women reported violence from husbands if they did not provide water for bathing needs (Kenya, [198] Ethiopia, [108] Vietnam, [111] Cameroon [231]), did not have water in the home (East Africa [179]), went to cleaner water sources considered”

In the citing paper

“Specifically, women limited bathing and washing hands, clothes, menstrual materials, and bathrooms; [76,86,98,100,123,144,165,197,198,200,202,229,232,281] restricted food and water to avoid defecation and urination; [135, 168, 174, 179, 184, 192, 212, 224] suppressed defecation and urination urges; [2,62,181,184,188,190,191, 214, 217, 229, 235, 236, 238, 241, 247, 248, 250, 270] delayed changing”

In the citing paper

“Women formed and maintained social connections when collecting water [57,78,110,115,153,279] and relied on social capital from family, friends, and community members for multiple water needs.They leveraged social capital to access water when queues were long or water was scarce, [61,110,114,164,165,179,198,279] jump water queues, [168, 179] get water from private wells, [279] haul water using”

In the citing paper

“Women reported spending money to access water sources with shorter wait times [61,198] or higher quality, [98,198] or to compensate male neighbors, laborers, or drivers for water collection [165,201].Water was a major expense for many women [65,86,111,198,200,292].”

In the citing paper

“Men in Uganda who assisted with water collection were deemed emotionally unstable or bewitched, [165, 258]”

In the citing paper

“When men or boys do collect water, it has been more acceptable when they consider it 'helping' women [261] or use technology-like bicycles, wheelbarrows, or motorcycles-while women and girls are expected to carry water [123, 165, 229, 258, 261].”

In the citing paper

“In Bangladesh, [110] India, [279] and Uganda [165] women relied on social networks to access water, but noted that relationships could be strained or unreliable when water was scarce.”

In the citing paper

“Water collection sites could be places of tension and danger, including sexual exploitation, for women and girls in Zimbabwe [123] and Uganda [165,179].”