Household Sanitation Coverage and Childhood Diarrhoea Across Twenty Blocks
Department of Community Medicine, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Corresponding Author: Rahman M, Doctus Journal of Public Health.
Abstract
Sanitation coverage is usually reported as the proportion of households owning a latrine, a measure that conceals whether it is used. We combined coverage data with observed use indicators across twenty blocks and related both to reported childhood diarrhoea in 4,180 households. Ownership alone showed a weak association with diarrhoea incidence. Observed use indicators, principally the presence of water at the latrine and absence of storage use, showed a much stronger association. Blocks reporting near-universal ownership varied more than threefold in diarrhoea incidence. Programme monitoring built on ownership targets is therefore a poor proxy for health benefit.
Keywords
Sanitation; Childhood Diarrhoea; Latrine Use; Water and Sanitation; Programme Monitoring; Block-Level Analysis
How to Cite
Rahman M, Saha P and Islam R. “Household Sanitation Coverage and Childhood Diarrhoea Across Twenty Blocks”. Doctus Journal of Public Health 2.2 (2026): 08-23.
Copyright and Licence
© 2026 Rahman M. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.