Effect of women's perceptions and household practices on children's waterborne illness in a low income community

Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Relation to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia

The main purpose of the study was to deepen the understanding of gender and social inclusion in the context of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. An explorative qualitative study was conducted in three districts of the Oromia region using gender analysis frameworks. Twenty-one key informant interviews and nine focus group discussions were conducted. Findings showed 52% of households in the study area have basic service level water, 29% have basic service level sanitation, and 14% have basic service level hygiene. Women, girls, and people living with disability disproportionately experience poor access to quality WASH services. Women and girls participate in unequal domestic labor related to water management which often exposes them to discrimination and violence such as rape, abduction, and assault. Overall, women, girls, and other socially excluded groups are rarely consulted and engaged by local actors. This results in incongruent policy and political commitment which limits action at the grassroots level. Integrating gender equality and inclusion efforts into local governance agendas can help to increase access to and the quality of WASH services. These efforts must advocate for moving beyond gender parity to promote gender transformative approaches and inclusion to realize better WASH services for the communities they serve.

Constraints on Compliance and the Impact of Health Information in Rural Pakistan

The provision of information, which is a common public health strategy, may be ineffective if recommendations are not privately optimal for message recipients. This paper evaluates the response to a hygiene information campaign in rural Pakistan. In a theoretical model, baseline hygiene and health proxy for preferences, prices, and wealth, which jointly moderate the impact of information. We show that people with good baseline hygiene and health respond differentially to the hygiene message. This result, which does not appear to arise through differential learning, suggests that practical constraints limit the adoption of hygiene recommendations. Information provision may exacerbate health inequality under these conditions.

Toward a systems approach to enteric pathogen transmission: from individual independence to community interdependence

Diarrheal disease is still a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide; thus a large body of research has been produced describing its risks. We review more than four decades of literature on diarrheal disease epidemiology. These studies detail a progression in the conceptual understanding of transmission of enteric pathogens and demonstrate that diarrheal disease is caused by many interdependent pathways. However, arguments by diarrheal disease researchers in favor of attending to interaction and interdependencies have only recently yielded more formal systems-level approaches. Therefore, interdependence has not yet been highlighted in significant new research initiatives or policy decisions. We argue for a systems-level framework that will contextualize transmission and inform prevention and control efforts so that they can integrate transmission pathways. These systems approaches should be employed to account for community effects (i.e., interactions among individuals and/or households).