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Water, Sanitation And Hygiene For The Prevention Of Diarrhoea, Sandy Cairncross, Caroline Hunt, Sophie Boisson, Kristof Bostoen, Val Curtis, Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, Wolf-Peter Schmidt
Water, Sanitation And Hygiene For The Prevention Of Diarrhoea, Sandy Cairncross, Caroline Hunt, Sophie Boisson, Kristof Bostoen, Val Curtis, Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, Wolf-Peter Schmidt
Isaac Chun-Hai Fung
Background: Ever since John Snow's intervention on the Broad St pump, the effect of water quality, hygiene and sanitation in preventing diarrhoea deaths has always been debated. The evidence identified in previous reviews is of variable quality, and mostly relates to morbidity rather than mortality.
Methods: We drew on three systematic reviews, two of them for the Cochrane Collaboration, focussed on the effect of handwashing with soap on diarrhoea, of water quality improvement and of excreta disposal, respectively. The estimated effect on diarrhoea mortality was determined by applying the rules adopted for this supplement, where appropriate.
Results: The striking effect …