Interim evaluation of a large scale sanitation, hygiene and water improvement programme on childhood diarrhea and respiratory disease in rural Bangladesh

Started in 2007, the Sanitation Hygiene Education and Water Supply in Bangladesh (SHEWA-B) project aims to improve the hygiene, sanitation and water supply for 20 million people in Bangladesh, and thus reduce disease among this population. This paper assesses the effectiveness of SHEWA-B on changing behaviors and reducing diarrhea and respiratory illness among children < 5 years of age. We assessed behaviors at baseline in 2007 and after 6 months and 18 months by conducting structured observation of handwashing behavior in 500 intervention and 500 control households. In addition we conducted spot checks of water and sanitation facilities in 850 intervention and 850 control households. We also collected monthly data on diarrhea and respiratory illness from 500 intervention and 500 control households from October 2007 to September 2009. Participants washed their hands with soap < 3% of the time around food related events in both intervention and control households at baseline and after 18 months. Washing both hands with soap or ash after cleaning a child's anus increased from 22% to 36%, and no access to a latrine decreased from 10% to 6.8% from baseline to 18 months. The prevalence of diarrhea and respiratory illness, among children <5 years of age were similar in intervention and control communities throughout the study. This large scale sanitation, hygiene and water improvement programme resulted in improvements in a few of its targeted behaviors, but these modest behavior changes have not yet resulted in a measurable reduction in childhood diarrhea and respiratory illness.     

四川省农村5岁以下儿童腹泻患病状况及影响因素研究

目的 了解四川省农村5岁以下儿童腹泻患病状况及其影响因素,为儿童腹泻病的防治提供建议.方法 利用第四次国家卫生服务调查西部扩点调查四川省的资料,描述性分析四川省农村5岁以下儿童腹泻患病状况,并采用Logis-tic回归模型探讨儿童腹泻患病的影响因素.结果 四川省农村5岁以下儿童腹泻两周患病率为10.1％.儿童腹泻两周患病率随着年龄的上升而下降,患病高峰在0～2岁.影响儿童腹泻的主要因素为年龄、父母是否均长期在外务工、家庭是否使用安全饮用水.结论 四川省农村儿童腹泻防治工作的重点对象为0～2岁儿童和留守儿童,并且儿童腹泻的防治应从提倡合理喂养、改善用水卫生、保持良好的卫生习惯等方面入手.     

The risk of Ascaris lumbricoides infection in children as an environmental health indicator to guide preventive activities in Caparaó and Alto Caparaó, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To develop an environmental health indicator for use as a basis for developing preventive measures against Ascaris lumbricoides infection in children from the rural municipalities of Caparaó and Alto Caparaó, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between May and September 1998 among 1171 children under 14 years of age living in 588 dwellings selected from 11 communities. Trained interviewers used a questionnaire to identify risk factors for infection (socioeconomic, sanitation and hygiene variables) and collected stool samples from each child for parasitological tests. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of A. lumbricoides infection was 12.2%. The results showed the protective effects of availability of water in the washbasin and better hygiene, sanitation and socioeconomic status; the interactive effect of crowding was five times larger in households without water in the washbasin than in those having water. There was a statistically significant association between infection and children's age. CONCLUSION: The environmental health indicator, which incorporated the most significant biological, environmental and social factors associated with the risk of A. lumbricoides infection in children from these communities, should contribute to the development of surveillance tools and health protection measures in this population.     

Risk factors for childhood diarrhea incidence: dynamic analysis of a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: Several longitudinal studies have investigated factors associated with childhood diarrhea in developing countries. However, most studies have neglected important dynamic features of the longitudinal design and hierarchical interrelationships among the potential risk factors. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal study of 902 children, age 0 to 36 months at baseline, in a large urban center in northeastern Brazil. Diarrhea data were collected by following children from October 2000 until January 2002 with biweekly home visits. We used a dynamic time-to-event analysis to account for several longitudinal features. We applied an effect-decomposition strategy to quantify direct and indirect effects of risk factors grouped in different blocks. RESULTS: Child's age and an autoregressive effect of past diarrhea episodes explained some of the decline of diarrhea incidence observed throughout the study (from more than 14 episodes to 2 episodes per child-year), a phenomenon already observed but not explained in other longitudinal diarrhea studies. We identified the following major diarrhea determinants: low socioeconomic status, poor sanitation conditions, presence of intestinal parasites, and absence of prenatal examination. The effect of socioeconomic status was mediated mostly by living and sanitation conditions. CONCLUSION: Our study shows important advantages of applying a dynamic analysis approach to longitudinal observational studies of diarrhea or other acute diseases and highlights the complex interrelationships of diarrhea determinants. Our results confirm the importance of sanitation as a major determinant of child health in urban settings of developing countries.     

Interventions for the control of diarrhoeal diseases among young children: rotavirus and cholera immunization

The potential effects of rotavirus and cholera immunization (with an improved vaccine) on diarrhea morbidity and mortality among young children are reviewed using data from field studies and theoretical calculations. In developing countries, rotavirus may be responsible for about 6% of all diarrhea episodes and 20% of all diarrhea deaths in children under age 5. In industrial countries, these proportions may be higher. Rotavirus immunization may reduce overall diarrhea morbidity rates by 2-3% and diarrhea mortality rates by 6-10% among children under 5 in developing countries, depending on vaccine efficacy and program coverage. The impact of improved cholera vaccines depends on the prominence of cholera as a cause of diarrhea, and this varies greatly from country to country. Taking the extreme example of Bangladesh, where cholera is endemic and may account for about 0.4% of all diarrhea episodes and 8% of all diarrhea deaths in children under 5 years of age, cholera immunization might reduce overall diarrhea morbidity rates by 0.06-0.13% and diarrhea mortality rates by 1-2% among these children. The similar incidence rates in industrial and developing countries suggest that rotavirus diarrhea may not be controlled by improvements in water supply, sanitation, or hygiene. Control may depend on the widespread use of an effective vaccine. (author's)     

Acute diarrheal disease: a public health challenge in Colombia]

OBJECTIVES: To establish the relationship between rotavirus infection and dehydration from diarrhea in Colombian children under 5 years of age, and to identify risk factors for diarrhea with dehydration. METHODS: A case-control study was performed in an urban hospital in Bogota, Colombia, between April 2000 and February 2001. The sample was composed of 290 children of both sexes under 5 years of age; of these children, 145 of them were hospitalized for acute diarrheal disease (ADD) with dehydration (cases), and 145 had a diagnosis of ADD but no signs of dehydration (controls). All children underwent a complete physical examination. Mothers responded to a questionnaire containing items on demographic and socioeconomic variables, as well as on knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to hygiene, and on access to health services. RESULTS: An association was detected between diarrhea with dehydration and the presence of rotavirus in fecal samples (odds ratio [OR] = 3.46; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.71 to 7.00), birth weight < 2 600 g (OR = 7.79; 95% CI: 3.47 to 18.01), and breastfeeding for less than 3 months (OR = 3.17; 95% CI: 1.66 to 6.13). The risk of having dehydration was associated with low socioeconomic status, poor hygienic practices among the child's family members, and mother's low educational level. CONCLUSIONS: The ineffectiveness of health promotion and disease prevention activities in a population with easy access to health services set the stage for the appearance of cases of diarrhea with dehydration. Rotavirus infection plays an important role in the severity of ADD among Colombian children.     

With the help of one's neighbors: externalities in the production of nutrition in Peru

Both public and private resources contribute to the nutritional status of children. In addition, the investments made by one household may contribute to the health of other households in the neighborhood through improvements in the sanitation environment and through increases in shared knowledge.This paper measures the externalities of investments in nutrition by indicating the impact of the education of women in Peruvian neighborhoods on the nutrition of children in other households, after controlling for the education and income of those households. We find that in rural areas this shared knowledge has a significant impact on nutrition, with the coefficient of an increase in the average education of women in the neighborhood being appreciable larger than the coefficient of education in isolation.In addition, we indicate the impact of the water and sanitation environment in the neighborhood, again controlling for the household's own access to sanitation and water. In both urban and rural areas, we observe externalities from investments in such household level infrastructure with the evidence particularly strong for sanitation made by neighboring households.     

Household solid waste bagging and collection and their health implications for children living in outlying urban settlements in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil

This paper presents a study on the bagging and collection of household solid waste and the health implications for children. The research was conducted in nine human settlements on the outskirts of Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil. Intestinal nematode infection, predominantly involving Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworms, was used as an epidemiological indicator in 1,893 children from 5 to 14 years of age. The study also included diarrhea incidence and nutritional status as shown by anthropometric indicators in 1,204 children less than 5 years of age. There was a higher prevalence of the three nematodes in children living in households without proper bagging/isolation and collection of household solid waste as compared to those in areas with regular garbage collection and adequate isolation of solid waste. The differences were statistically significant when other socioeconomic, cultural, demographic, and environmental risks factors were considered in the analysis. Similar results were also observed for epidemiological indicators, diarrhea incidence, and nutritional status.     

Diarrheal diseases in children from a water reclamation site in Mexico city

This study was conducted to assess the risk of enteric diseases among children living in a water reclamation area in Mexico City. A geographic information system was used to define eligible wells and surrounding homesteads. Sixty-five water samples from five wells were tested for fecal coliform bacteria per 100 mL (FC/100 mL) during visits to 750 eligible households; caretakers only in those dwellings with children under 5 years old were interviewed throughout repeated cross-sectional surveys, conducted during 1999-2000. Data on diarrheal diseases were obtained from 761 children during the rainy season and 732 children during the dry season; their guardians also provided information on drinking water supply, sanitation, and socioeconomic variables. The presence of indicator organisms in groundwater samples pointed to fecal pollution; bacterial indicators, however, did not predict the health risk. The rates of diarrhea were 10.7% in the dry season and 11.8% in the rainy season. Children 1 year old showed the highest rate of diarrhea during the dry season [odds ratio (OR) = 2.1 with 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.99-4.71], particularly those from households perceiving unpleasant taste of tap water (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 0.97-2.92) and consuming vegetables washed only with water (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.10-4.39). Lower risk was observed in individuals enjoying full-day water supply (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.27-0.86) and a flushing toilet (OR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.16-0.67), as well as those storing water in covered receptacles (OR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.15-0.80). Rainy season data suggested that children from households perceiving a color to their water had a higher rate of diarrhea than did those without such complaint (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 0.93-3.67); recent consumption of food sold by street vendors was also a significant risk factor (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 0.98-2.87). Groundwater is at risk of contamination, as indicated by the presence of FC/100 mL. The endemic pattern of diarrhea, however, reflects mostly inadequate housing, sanitation, and water-related practices. Health protection policy must be discussed.     

A study of the association between improved sanitation facilities and children's height in Lesotho

The impact of improved sanitation on the anthropometric status of children under 5 years in Lesotho was investigated using children recruited into a case-control study of diarrhoea morbidity. The children's height-for-age Z-scores were used as an indicator of chronic undernutrition. Classifying children as 'stunted' or 'adequately nourished' revealed some evidence of an association between latrine ownership and attained height. After allowing for confounding variables, the odds of stunting were 18 per cent lower among children in households with latrines (95 per cent confidence interval, 36 per cent lower to 3 per cent higher). More powerful analyses, using height-for-age as a continuous outcome variable, revealed that the mean height-for-age Z-score of children from households with a latrine was 0.27 standard deviations higher than that of children from households without a latrine (95 per cent c.i. = 0.12 to 0.42). These results suggest that the anthropometric status of children may be as responsive to improvements in sanitation facilities as diarrhoea morbidity in some settings.