The Influence of Behavioral Dynamics on Clean Water Utilization and Treatment in Cholera Epidemic Control

This study develops an susceptible–bacteria–infected–treatment–recovered (SBITR) epidemic model that integrates evolutionary game theory to investigate the role of behavioral dynamics in cholera control. Unlike previous works that primarily focus on vaccination or sanitation measures, our model explicitly incorporates two critical strategies: (i) clean water usage as a nonpharmaceutical intervention and (ii) treatment of infected individuals as a pharmaceutical intervention, both under associated costs. We derived equations for the proportion of individuals benefiting from clean water consumption and the average social payoff at the Nash equilibrium. We further established the system’s positivity, boundedness, and equilibrium properties under disease transmission rate. Numerical simulations employing line graphs and two-dimensional heat maps illustrate key parameters such as the availability of clean water, the bacterial decay rate, the intensity of bacterial excretion, and the costs associated with interventions substantially shape epidemic outcomes. By contrast, the findings reveal that the rate of successful recovery following treatment exerts only a marginal influence on the overall disease dynamics. Our results show that lower clean water and treatment costs significantly reduce the final epidemic size, enhance recovery rates, and increase social payoff. In contrast, higher costs discourage adoption and worsen outbreak severity. Additionally, treatment uptake declines sharply with rising treatment costs, while intermediate levels of clean water availability reveal a counterintuitive increase in epidemic size under higher water costs. These findings highlight the societal dilemmas inherent in cholera control and underscore the importance of designing cost-effective strategies that promote clean water consumption and treatment adoption. By integrating epidemic dynamics with behavioral game theory, this study offers novel insights into evidence-based policy interventions aimed at mitigating cholera outbreaks, particularly in vulnerable communities.