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Post-disaster response and recovery to meet health needs of older people: I
Published in Emily Ying Yang Chan, Disaster Public Health and Older People, 2019
Effective hygiene promotion is one of the public health tools for reducing the incidence of water-related diseases. It covers a wide range of activities that aim to reduce health risks and disease transmission through good hygiene practices, such as hand-washing, water boiling and proper latrine-use. In an emergency, the provision of sanitation facilities is essential for containing excreta and human waste. A simple pit latrine structure is the simplest type of emergency latrine that can be built speedily awaiting the installation of communal toilets. If water is available, preferable sanitation facilities such as trench latrines might be constructed. While it depends on ground capacity in the emergency context, the basic principle when building these latrines is to design and place the latrines at least 15 metres away from the groundwater sources and the bottom of the latrine at least 1.5 metres above the water table (Sphere, 2011). Communal latrines should be constructed as soon as possible.
Planning a sanitation programme
Published in Sandy Cairncross, Richard Feachem, Environmental Health Engineering in the Tropics, 2018
Sandy Cairncross, Richard Feachem
Many low-cost toilet types are on-site systems, disposing of the excreta into a hole in the ground; these include pit latrines and pour-flush toilets. They are sustainable only if a new pit can be dug when the old one is full, or if a pit emptying service is available. Consumer studies have found that the limited lifetime of such latrines is an important constraint to demand for home sanitation.
Cost–benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis *
Published in Jamie Bartram, Rachel Baum, Peter A. Coclanis, David M. Gute, David Kay, Stéphanie McFadyen, Katherine Pond, William Robertson, Michael J. Rouse, Routledge Handbook of Water and Health, 2015
Steps 1 and 2 in Table 63.1 largely pertain to the scope of the CBA. In theory, a CBA should assess all potential alternative policies or projects and measure their effects on all parties that are affected by them. In practice, given the important cognitive constraints facing analysts and decision-makers, it is usually necessary to limit the number of alternatives considered, and to define the boundaries over which their effects are considered. For example, WASH interventions may target different pathways of contamination (e.g., hand-washing versus simple sanitation versus phase-in of advanced water treatment like membrane filtration), may have slightly different technological designs (construction of ventilated pit latrines versus eco-sanitation versus sewerage) or implementation modalities (market-based versus free distribution versus utility-based service). They may be promoted at village, regional, national, or even global scales, with very different implications for who has standing. It will often be impossible to consider all possible alternatives and affected parties. At best, the boundaries and scope of the CBA will be pragmatic and allow assessment of the most critical policy tradeoffs in the decision-making problem. At worst, the institutions requesting a CBA may limit its scope in strategic ways, only focusing on particular alternatives or biasing the analysis to consider only effects on specific interests.
Drought-related cholera outbreaks in Africa and the implications for climate change: a narrative review
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2022
Gina E. C. Charnley, Ilan Kelman, Kris A. Murray
Poor access to sanitation is a known risk for cholera outbreaks [20] and can occur after displaced populations are not provided with adequate facilities. In Zimbabwe [27] and Mali [17], poor sanitation was thought to be a main contributing factor to the cholera outbreak, due to a pit latrine density of 1/10,000 people in the refugee camps. Pit latrines though discourage open defecation, which often contaminates rivers that have multiple uses including drinker water, laundry, and bathing [30]. Camps can also impact the local population, as although residents are often prohibited from entering camps, trade between camp residents and locals is known to occur, increasing contact through food and goods [27]. Movement of people in different communities also means that there is mixed local immunity through previous infections. For example, in Douala, more than 200,000 nonimmune people are added to the local population every year, many of which live in poor conditions [29].
Evaluation of a Single Dose of Azithromycin for Trachoma in Low-Prevalence Communities
Published in Ophthalmic Epidemiology, 2019
Nana Wilson, Brook Goodhew, Harran Mkocha, Kahaliah Joseph, Claudiu Bandea, Carolyn Black, Joseph Igietseme, Beatriz Munoz, Sheila K. West, Patrick Lammie, Mabula Kasubi, Diana L. Martin
All participants reported face-washing health education in the previous year at baseline, but far fewer—42% in the control arm and 49% in the treatment arm—reported this at the 12-month follow-up (Table 1). On average, 36% of the children had ocular or nasal discharge at both baseline and 12-month follow-up with a statistically significant difference between the study arms at 12-month follow-up (Table 1). Average distance of household to a water source in the dry season was similar in the control and intervention groups at 12-month follow-up, although at baseline there was a slightly higher percent of participants with a 30 min–1 hour walk to a water source in the treatment group (Table 1). All participants reported access to a pit latrine in both arms of the study at baseline, and 99% reported access at the 12-month follow-up (Table 1).
Profile of mothers whose children are treated for malnutrition at a rural district hospital in the North West province, South Africa
Published in South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2022
This was a quantitative and cross-sectional study, conducted at a district hospital in a rural area of the North West province of South Africa. The hospital has 168 beds, 33 of which are reserved for paediatric patients. The population consisted of mother–child pairs, with the children admitted for malnutrition, and who reside in villages around the hospital catchment area and access health services from the district hospital. Most are indigenous African individuals, poverty is rife and most are involved in sustenance agriculture. Most of the households in the population have electricity and use pit latrines.