Issue 140 April 4, 2014 | Focus on Child Feces Disposal
A recent blog post by the SHARE project states that the feces of children may be particularly important in fecal-oral transmission since children are more susceptible to diseases such as diarrhea and often defecate in areas where other children could be exposed—the ground of a compound or in the house. This issue contains recent studies on child feces disposal practices in India and articles on child-friendly toilets. Also included are studies and reports on how infants and children are affected by fecal contamination caused by domestic animals.
WEBSITES
WASH Benefits Study/Bangladesh & Kenya – (Website)
The WASH Benefits Study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will provide rigorous evidence on the health and developmental benefits of water quality, sanitation, hand washing, and nutritional interventions during the first years of life. The study includes two cluster-randomized controlled trials to measure the impact of the intervention among newborn infants in rural Bangladesh and Kenya. Both will be large in scope and measure primary outcomes after two years of intervention. 
2014 STUDIES/PROTOCOLS
Interventions to Improve Disposal of Child Faeces for Preventing Diarrhoea and Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection. (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Apr 2014. F Majorin. (Order info)
The objectives of this study are to assess the effectiveness of interventions to improve the disposal of child feces for preventing diarrhea and soil-transmitted helminth infections. The interventions can include the provision of hardware (for example, nappies [diapers], potties, fecal collection devices, cleaning products to hygienically remove feces, child-friendly squatting slabs or latrines used by children), software (for example, promotion of safe disposal practices), or both. It will include interventions that combine the safe disposal of child feces with other interventions, such as hygiene promotion interventions, and employ subgroup analysis to investigate the impact of these additional interventions.
Child Feces Disposal Practices in Rural Orissa: A Cross Sectional Study. PLoS One, Feb 2014. F Majorin. (Link)
This study conducted surveys with heads of 136 households in 20 villages. It describes defecation and feces disposal practices and explores associations between safe disposal and risk factors. Respondents reported that children commonly defecated on the ground, either inside the household for pre-ambulatory children or around the compound for ambulatory children. Twenty percent of pre-ambulatory children used potties and nappies; the same percentage of ambulatory children defecated in a latrine. The study concludes that in the area surveyed, India’s Total Sanitation Campaign has not led to high levels of safe disposal of child feces.
Why is Child Faeces Disposal Important? 2014. SHARE. (Link)
Fiona Majorin of the SHARE project is currently conducting formative research in urban and rural settings in Orissa, India. The findings from this work will lead to the design of an intervention that will aim to improve safe child feces disposal.
Child Feces Disposal. A Presentation at the Handwashing Behavior Change Think Tank, 2014. (Link)
This brief presentation, given by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) of The World Bank, explores how to safely manage child feces. WSP and UNICEF are collaborating on 25 country profiles focusing on child feces disposal. The presenter appealed to colleagues at the Think Tank and to the WASH community to share any research, programs, or policies they know of that address child feces disposal by emailing them toerand@worldbank.org.
Toys and Toilets: Cross-Sectional Study Using Children’s Toys to Evaluate Environmental Faecal Contamination in Rural Bangladeshi Households with Different Sanitation Facilities and Practices. Trop Med Intl Health, Mar 2014. J Vujcic. (Abstract)
This study examined fecal contamination in 100 rural households with and without access to toilets/latrines using toys to measure the level of contamination. In rural Bangladesh, improved sanitation facilities and practices were associated with less environmental contamination. Whether this association is independent of household wealth and whether the difference in contamination improves child health merit further study. The variation found was typical for measures of environmental contamination, and requires large sample sizes to ascertain differences between groups with statistical significance.
“Cleaner, Healthier, Happier” Campaign Unveils New Muppet in Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria. Sesame Workshop India, Mar 2014. (Link)
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, unveils the world’s newest Muppet friend, Raya, who will engage children with important messages surrounding proper latrine use and sanitation throughout Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria as part of its Cleaner, Healthier, Happier campaign.
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