Research News

Many Bangladeshis live in rural areas where running water and latrines are luxury items. Without pipes and drainage, obtaining running water means moving to the water source, not just simply turning on the nearest tap. Nearly one in four rural people still defecate in the open (more often in children and the very poor), and annual localised flooding ruins many latrines and water sources and hampers efforts to build new ones.

Poor sanitation practices are more than unsightly, they have major health impacts. Diarrhoea, typhoid and other diseases are often caused by bacteria from faeces. Diarrhoea is the fourth biggest killer of children aged from 1 to 4, and across the country incidence of diarrhoea is high, with children younger than 5 experiencing three to five episodes annually. Awareness about arsenic contamination of water from tube wells is also low and presents an obstacle to prevention of poisoning.

These are some of the findings of the Health Impact Study Baseline Survey, conducted by Institute of Cholera and Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) over the last year.

UNICEF and the Bangladesh Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) organised the survey conducted under the Sanitation, Hygiene, Education and Water Supply in Bangladesh (SHEWAB) project. The Bangladesh government and UNICEF have been jointly implementing the SHEWAB project in association with DFID.

Some simple behaviour changes and resources could have profound effects on health. Less than 1 percent of people in SHEWAB study areas were found to wash hands with soap before preparing and eating food, and only 17 percent of people washed hands with soap or ash after defecation. According to Paul Edward, chair of the water, environment and sanitation division of UNICEF, The number of diarrhoea and respiratory tract infection patients would be halved if the practice of hand washing before preparing and eating food and after defecation could be ensured.

More information:

• Background on Sanitation, Hygiene Education and Water Supply in Bangladesh (SHEWAB)
• Daily Star, Bangladesh: Washing hands before eating food can halve diarrhoea
• See details of DFID’s core funding of this initiative in the project record on R4D for the ICDDR,B Grant 2006-11