Social mobilization for sanitation

Social mobilization for sanitatio

What is cholera?:A preliminary study on caretakers' knowledge in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: Cholera has afflicted the Indian sub-continent for centuries, predominantly in West Bengal and modern-day Bangladesh. This preliminary study aims to understand the current level of knowledge of cholera in female Bangladeshi caretakers, which is important in the outcome of the disease and its spread. A pilot study was conducted among 85 women in Bangladesh using qualitative questionnaires to explore the ability of female caretakers in identifying cholera and its transmission. FINDINGS: The survey revealed that though all the female caretakers were aware of the term “cholera,” nearly a third of the respondents did not associate diarrhea with cholera or mentioned symptoms that could not be caused by cholera (29 %). Approximately half of the respondents associated water with the cause of cholera (56 %) and only 8 % associated cholera with sanitation or hygiene. Shame and stigma (54 %) were more commonly described than death (47 %) as negative effects of cholera. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study are suggestive of a need for reformulation of cholera and diarrhea communication. Messaging should be based on signs of dehydration, foregoing the use of medical terminology

Ingestion of unsafe water: is having a safe source enough?

Bangladesh has achieved a remarkable success in handpump and piped water supply coverage. Majority (64 per cent) of the urban population and nearly all (93 per cent) of the rural population have access to handpump or piped water (BBS, 1995). Despite reaching such enviable success in installing handpump or piped water system, water related diseases remain a major cause or mortality and morbidity in Bangladesh (Mitra, 1992). This indicates that ingestion of contaminated water - the predominant mode of pathogen transmission - continues to be practised. The logical questions are: why do people keep on using unsafe surface water sources, what are the practices that put people at risk of ingesting unsafe water, and what behavioural changes are required to prevent such ingestion. Presented here are findings of a study undertaken to investigate domestic water management practices in rural and urban homes in Bangladesh in an attempt to answer these questions

What is cholera? A preliminary study on caretakers\u2019 knowledge in Bangladesh

Background: Cholera has afflicted the Indian sub-continent for centuries, predominantly in West Bengal and modern-day Bangladesh. This preliminary study aims to understand the current level of knowledge of cholera in female Bangladeshi caretakers, which is important in the outcome of the disease and its spread. A pilot study was conducted among 85 women in Bangladesh using qualitative questionnaires to explore the ability of female caretakers in identifying cholera and its transmission. Findings: The survey revealed that though all the female caretakers were aware of the term \u201ccholera,\u201d nearly a third of the respondents did not associate diarrhea with cholera or mentioned symptoms that could not be caused by cholera (29 %). Approximately half of the respondents associated water with the cause of cholera (56 %) and only 8 % associated cholera with sanitation or hygiene. Shame and stigma (54 %) were more commonly described than death (47 %) as negative effects of cholera. Conclusions: The results from this study are suggestive of a need for reformulation of cholera and diarrhea communication. Messaging should be based on signs of dehydration, foregoing the use of medical terminology

Rural women in sanitation programmes

As a part of an integrated water-sanitation study 754 twin-pit latrines were provided to about 4500 people of two villages in Mirzapur subdistrict, Bangladesh. Women were motivated to contribute in the owner­ship of individual family-based latrines. They were encouraged to participate in site-selection, construction of latrine superstructures, and maintenance of the latrines. More than 91% of the latrines were in use. Local women participated in the construction of more than 60% of the Project-community built 280 latrine superstructures. When pits of 276 latrines needed desludging, local women with some training from the project desludged 65% of the pits at a cost of about one-fourth of the price demanded by professional scavengers. These participations by the women was accepted by the society and since the area is representative of the country, this finding has implication for sustainable and effective use of two-pit latrines

Anoxic storage to promote arsenic removal with groundwater-native iron

Storage containers are usually used to provide a constant water head in decentralized, community groundwater treatment systems for the removal of iron (Fe) and arsenic (As). However, the commonly practiced aeration prior to storage assists in rapid and complete Fe2+ oxidation, resulting in poor As removal, despite sufficient native-Fe2+ in the source water. In this study, it was found that application of anoxic storage enhanced As removal from groundwater, containing ≥300 µg/L of As(III) and 2.33 mg/L of Fe2+ in an As affected village of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh. Although the oxidation of Fe2+ and As(III) during oxic storage was considerably faster, the As/Fe removal ratio was higher during anoxic storage (61–80±5 µgAs/mgFe) compared to the oxic storage (45±5 µgAs/mgFe). This higher As removal efficacy in anoxic storage containers could not be attributed to the speciation of As, since As(V) concentrations were higher during oxic storage due to more favorable abiotic (As(III) oxidation by O2 and Fenton-like intermediates) and biotic (As(III) oxidizing bacteria, e.g., Sideroxydans, Gallionella, Hydrogenophaga) conditions. The continuous, in-situ hydrous ferric oxide floc formation during flow-through operation, and the favorable lower pH aiding higher sorption capacities for the gradually formed As(V) likely contributed to the improved performance in the anoxic storage containers.Sanitary EngineeringWater Managemen

Rural drinking water at supply and household levels: Quality and management

Access to safe drinking water has been an important national goal in Bangladesh and other developing countries. While Bangladesh has almost achieved accepted bacteriological drinking water standards for water supply, high rates of diarrheal disease morbidity indicate that pathogen transmission continues through water supply chain (and other modes). This paper investigates the association between water quality and selected management practices by users at both the supply and household levels in rural Bangladesh. Two hundred and seventy tube-well water samples and 300 water samples from household storage containers were tested for fecal coliform (FC) concentrations over three surveys (during different seasons). The tube-well water samples were tested for arsenic concentration during the first survey. Overall, the FC was low (the median value ranged from 0 to 4 cfu/100 ml) in water at the supply point (tube-well water samples) but significantly higher in water samples stored in households. At the supply point, 61% of tube-well water samples met the Bangladesh and WHO standards of FC; however, only 37% of stored water samples met the standards during the first survey. When arsenic contamination was also taken into account, only 52% of the samples met both the minimum microbiological and arsenic content standards of safety. The contamination rate for water samples from covered household storage containers was significantly lower than that of uncovered containers. The rate of water contamination in storage containers was highest during the February–May period. It is shown that safe drinking water was achieved by a combination of a protected and high quality source at the initial point and maintaining quality from the initial supply (source) point through to final consumption. It is recommended that the government and other relevant actors in Bangladesh establish a comprehensive drinking water system that integrates water supply, quality, handling and related educational programs in order to ensure the safety of drinking water supplies

NGOs in sanitation: needs, scope and potential

The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been playing important roles in the sanitation issues in Bangladesh. Here we present the needs and roles played by NGOs in a community involved sanitation related activities in a rural sub-district in Bangladesh. These findings have policy and programmatic implication for further effective and sustainable roles of these development partners in Bangladesh and in other similar countries