The objective of the study reported here was to investigate three factors that may affect the amounts of water consumed and urine excreted by a rat in the metabolism cage: water dilution, housing, and food. Young F344/N rats (eight per group) were used for all experiments. Food was withheld from rats before each 16-h urine collection, then rats were transferred into a metabolism cage. For trial A (water dilution), urine was collected from rats supplied with dyed water (0.05%,vol/vol). This was repeated three times over a 2-week period. Dye in water or urine was quantified, using a spectrophotometer. For trial B (housing), rats were individually housed in wire cages for 3 weeks before the first urine collection. Then they were group housed in the solid-bottom cage (four per cage). After 2 weeks of acclimation, urine collection was repeated. For trial C (food), one group of rats was provided with food, the other was not, during urine collection. About 8% of urine samples of small volume (less than or equal to 3 ml) from trial A were contaminated with drinking water up to 13% of volume. The average urine volume associated with individual housing was approximately twice as large as that associated with group housing. When food was provided during urine collection, rats consumed similar amounts of water but excreted significantly smaller amounts of urine than did rats without food. It was concluded that water dilution of a urine sample from a sipper bottle is relatively small; rats individually housed in wire caging before urine collection can consumed and excrete a larger quantity of water, compared with rats group housed in solid-bottom cages: and highly variable urine volumes are, in part, associated with lack of access to food during urine collection.

Since cyclones Sidr (2007) and Aila (2009), communities in southern Bangladesh have increasingly needed to protect their homes and livelihoods from destructive natural disasters. WorldFish embarked on a climate-resilient housing project in 2013, building a prototype climate-smart house that is resilient to cyclones and is also water, food, energy and space efficient. This brief describes how the climate-smart house provides protection against cyclones and flooding and supports efficient use of water and energy. Many features of the house are aimed at increasing food production and helping families become more self-sufficient and better able to cope with extreme weather events | Hossain, E., Nurun Nabi, S.M., Kaminski, A. (2015) Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish. Program Brief: 2015-27

The major landslide of 2010 in Bududa district in Eastern Uganda is the most catastrophic natural disaster in Uganda's recorded history. An estimated 350 people died and some of the affected were resettled in Kiryandongo district. We assessed housing, water and sanitation practises of affected households and controls to establish possible implications on food insecurity and diet diversity.This cross-sectional study assessed 1078 affected and control households in Bududa and Kiryandongo districts. The head of the households were either affected, selected from landslide disaster-affected communities, or controls from a random sub-county bordering the affected. Structured interviews were used and entries were tested statistically to report crude estimates based on the Pearson x² and ANOVA, while adjusted analysis used multivariate analysis of co-variance (MANCOVA) and Wald's Odds Ratio (OR) of Binary Logistic Regression at the 95% CI.On adjusting for the disaster and covariates, households who had insufficient access to water scored higher mean (SE) on food insecurity than those who reported sufficient access: 13.1 (0.4) vs. 9.5 (0.3) (P < 0.01). Intriguingly, households who owned a toilet and those who reported always using soap to wash hands scored higher food insecurity than their counterparts: 11.1 (0.3) vs. 9.0 (0.6) (P < 0.01) and 11.3 (0.3) vs. 9.1 (0.5) (P < 0.01), respectively. However, not owning a toilet increased the likelihood of being food insecure (OR 3.43; 95% CI 1.31, 8.97; P = 0.02). In Kiryandongo, affected households scored higher food insecurity than controls: 9.5 (0.5) vs. 5.4 (0.5) (P < 0.01) and higher diet diversity scores (DDS): 6.7 (0.2) vs. 6.2 (0.2) (P = 0.04). Type of housing also predicted food insecurity (P < 0.01) and DDS (P = 0.03). Like Bududa, households with insufficient water access scored higher food insecurity while those owning toilet scored higher DDS. Uniquely, only number of rooms was linked to a high likelihood of being food insecure (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.19, 2.15; P < 0.05).Disaster, food security and diet were sensitive to housing, water and sanitation and were integral to an adequate standard of living of victims of this landslide.