Community Level Access to Sanitation Facilities Benefits Child Health

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Community Level Access to Sanitation Facilities Benefits Child Health

Dave Larsen and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of previously conducted surveys to investigate health outcomes for children living in communities with different levels of access to sanitation facilities.

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The researchers pooled 301 health surveys conducted between 1990 and 2015 that included data on sanitation access for more than 1 million children in 93 countries. The outcomes measured included growth stunting among children 12 to 59 months old, anemia among children under 5 years, and diarrhea within the two weeks just prior to survey.

Community-level sanitation access was calculated as the proportion of households that had access to any latrine.

“Community-level sanitation access had different effects on child health depending on whether a child lived in a household with its own latrine.” Children living in households with a latrine were less likely to experience growth stunting, anemia and diarrhea if they lived in communities with 100 percent sanitation access than if they lived in communities with less than 30 percent access.

Children living in households without a latrine had lower odds of stunting or anemia in they lived in communities with some sanitation access (1 to 30 percent) than with 0 percent. Increasing the proportion of community-level access (60 to 99 percent) to sanitation did reduce the odds of anemia among children, but did not decrease the risk of stunting and diarrhea among children.

The findings indicate that poor community-level access to sanitation facilities is a significant risk factor for child morbidity and mortality. Improving access to latrines at the community level is integral to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 6, which aim to end preventable child deaths and achieve universal access to clean water and sanitation facilities by 2030.

Read more: PLOS Research News

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