Water system unreliability and diarrhea incidence among children in Guatemala.
Int J Public Health
; 63(2): 241-250, 2018 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29143849
OBJECTIVES: This article examines the effect of water system unreliability on diarrhea incidence among children aged 0-5 in Guatemala. METHODS: We use secondary data from a nationally representative sample of 7579 children to estimate the effects of uninterrupted and interrupted water services on diarrhea incidence. The national scope of this study imposes some methodological challenges due to unobserved geographical heterogeneity. To address this issue, we estimate mixed-effects logit models that control for unobserved heterogeneity by estimating random effects of selected covariates that can vary across geographical areas (i.e. water system reliability). RESULTS: Compared to children without access to piped water, children with uninterrupted water services have a lower probability of diarrhea incidence by approximately 33 percentage points. Conversely, there is no differential effect between children without access and those with at least one day of service interruptions in the previous month. Results also confirm negative effects of age, female gender, spanish language, and garbage disposal on diarrhea incidence. CONCLUSIONS: Public health benefits of piped water are realized through uninterrupted provision of service, not merely access. Policy implications are discussed.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Abastecimento de Água
/
Diarreia
Tipo de estudo:
Incidence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Newborn
País/Região como assunto:
America central
/
Guatemala
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Public Health
Assunto da revista:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos
País de publicação:
Suíça