Addressing public health externalities often requires community-level collective action. Due to social norms, each person's sanitation investment decisions may depend on the decisions of neighbors. We report on a cluster randomized controlled trial conducted with 19,000 households in rural Bangladesh where we grouped neighboring households and introduced (either financial or social recognition) rewards with a joint liability component for the group, or asked each group member to make a private or public pledge to maintain a hygienic latrine. The group financial reward has the strongest impact in the short term (3 months), inducing a 7.5-12.5 percentage point increase in hygienic latrine ownership, but this effect dissipates in the medium term (15 months). In contrast, the public commitment induced a 4.2-6.3 percentage point increase in hygienic latrine ownership in the short term, but this effect persists in the medium term. Non-financial social recognition or a private pledge has no detectable effect on sanitation investments.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103072 | DOI Listing |
Ophthalmic Epidemiol
December 2024
Light for the World, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Purpose: Baseline surveys were conducted in Tigray region, Ethiopia, in 2013. Since then, rounds of azithromycin mass drug administration (MDA) have been delivered in-line with international guidance. The purpose of these surveys was to assess trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF) prevalence following those treatments to enable the region to plan the next steps towards elimination of trachoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Parasitol
December 2024
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Research and Development Centre, Howard College Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa.
Many technical aspects are associated with helminth egg isolation and enumeration that affect how efficiently eggs are recovered from samples. This study investigated Ascaris egg recoverability when samples were washed with or without pressure, and from different sample types (water, effluent, ventilated improved pit latrine [VIP], urine diversion dry toilet [UDDT], dried, fatty, and septic tank sludges, and soil) when processed with water, ammonium bicarbonate, and 7X®. We also looked at egg recovery after flotation with zinc sulfate, magnesium sulfate, and sodium nitrate at specific gravities of 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Infect Dis
December 2024
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.
Background: Hookworm infection is a common problem among schoolchildren and mothers in tropical and subtropical countries, causing cognitive impairment, growth retardation in children and anaemia, low birth weight, preterm birth, and intrauterine growth delay in susceptible mothers. Since schoolchildren generally have a higher prevalence due to behavioral and hygiene-related factors, our systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for Hookworm infection among schoolchildren in Ethiopia.
Methods: Relevant studies were retrieved from several search databases.
BMC Infect Dis
December 2024
Division of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, USA.
Background: Less than one-third of sub-Saharan Africans have access to improved water sources. In US, Indian, and African studies, Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is increased among women with poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). We examined water source, sanitation (latrine type), and rainfall in relation to the vaginal microbiome (VMB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
December 2024
Center for Food Science and Nutrition, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Background: Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health facilities, and the low adherence to infection control protocols can increase the risk of hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections (HAIs). The risk for HAIs can increase morbidity, and mortality, health care cost, but also contribute to increased microbial resistance.
Objectives: The study aimed to assess WASH facilities and practices, and levels of nosocomial pathogens in selected health facilities in Oromia Region and Southern, Nations and Nationalities and Peoples (SNNPs) Region.
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