Influence of community-level sanitation coverage and population density on environmental fecal contamination and child health in a longitudinal cohort in rural Bangladesh

• Published in: International journal of hygiene and environmental health 2022-08, Vol.245, p.114031, Article 114031
• Main Authors: Contreras, Jesse D., Islam, Mahfuza, Mertens, Andrew, Pickering, Amy J., Kwong, Laura H., Arnold, Benjamin F., Benjamin-Chung, Jade, Hubbard, Alan E., Alam, Mahfuja, Sen, Debashis, Islam, Sharmin, Rahman, Mahbubur, Unicomb, Leanne, Luby, Stephen P., Colford, John M., Ercumen, Ayse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bangladesh - epidemiology; Child; Child Health; Diarrhea - epidemiology; Diarrhea - prevention & control; Diarrheal disease; Escherichia coli; Fecal contamination; Feces; Humans; Latrine coverage; Population Density; Rural Population; Sanitation; Sanitation coverage; Toilet Facilities; WASH
• ISSN: 1438-4639; 1618-131X; 1618-131X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114031

Household-level sanitation interventions have had limited effects on child health or environmental contamination, potentially due to low community coverage. Higher community-level coverage with safely managed sanitation can reduce opportunities for disease transmission. We estimated associations between community sanitation coverage, environmental fecal contamination, and child health among 360 compounds in the control arm of the WASH Benefits trial in rural Bangladesh (NCT01590095). In each compound, we enumerated E. coli in environmental samples and recorded the 7-day prevalence of caregiver-reported diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infections (ARI) in children under five. We observed indicators of latrine access and quality among all neighboring compounds within 100 m of study compounds. We defined community coverage as the proportion of neighboring compounds with (1) at least one latrine, and (2) exclusively hygienic latrines (improved facility observed to safely contain feces), within both 50 m and 100 m of study compounds. We assessed effect modification by population density and season. Adjusted for confounders, study compounds surrounded by 100% coverage of at least one latrine per compound within 50 m had slightly lower log10E. coli counts in stored water (Δlog = −0.13, 95% CI -0.26, −0.01), child hand rinses (Δlog = −0.13, 95% CI -0.24, −0.02), and caregiver hand rinses (Δlog = −0.16, 95% CI -0.29, −0.03) and marginally lower prevalence of diarrheal disease (prevalence ratio [PR] = 0.82, 95% CI 0.64, 1.04) and ARI (PR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.69, 1.03) compared to compounds surrounded by