The majority of people in Africa (ca 2,3 billion people) do not have access to safe drinking water. This is a major health issue and for example 300,000 children under the age of 5 die in Africa every year to water-related illnesses. In Uganda, over 60% of people seek for affordable and safe drinking water.

The solution was developed as part of a student project that included engineering and design students from Makerere University in Kampala, University of Dar es Salaam, University of Nairobi and Aalto University in Finland. Their goal was to seek for a solution that could impact the society and be accessible and affordable. Vepox filters produce household water filters to purify drinking water affordably and sustainably. Their goal is to solve the huge problem of lack of access to clean drinking water. The first time the filters are sold, they are sold for a cost of 15 USD. They have a cartridge that has to be replaced every three months that they sell for 10 USD. The cartridges are returned and after reactivating them, they are reusable and they are sold to the next customers. The solution supports the reuse of filters through the reusable cartridges. In addition, the filter reduces the need of using sources of energy to clean the water by e.g. boiling it. The filtration system itself uses plant-based materials, for example extracts from the moringa plant and reactivating the cartridges does not require electricity.

The customers can have safe and clean drinking water fast and affordably instead of boiling water for drinking purposes they can filter 10 litres of water in 30 minutes. The filter also operates as a place to keep clean drinking water as many don’t have dedicated places for clean water. Vepox Filters offers different sizes of filters for household use and for institutions, such as schools. Partnerships with universities have been crucial in developing the product. They are also partnering with UNICEF Uganda in supplying filtration bottles for school children. In addition, Vepox Filters is partnering with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Uganda.