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Home > Why this Toolkit > Diarrhea
Diarrhea
The causes of diarrhea include a wide array of viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Although diarrhea seldom kills children above the age of five, it is certainly an important issue for school-age children: it is a major source of morbidity (World Health Report, 1998) and therefore an important cause of absence from school.
A substantial body of literature shows direct links between the incidence of diarrhea and water supply, sanitation provision, and hygiene promotion. Safer excreta disposal, improved water supply, and better hygiene through hand washing, food protection, and domestic hygiene all result in reduced incidence of diarrhea in children, and relatively small investments in hand washing produce even more significant reductions than more capital-intensive investments.
A recent review study on the impact of hand washing with soap on the risk of diarrheal diseases showed that washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrheal diseases by 42 to 47 percent (Fewtrell & Colford, 2004). Although scientific research has not yet been finalized, comparing studies by (Curtis & Cairncross, 2003) indicate that hand washing can also reduce the incidence of acute respiratory infections. Acute respiratory infections are, after diarrhea, the most common disease among school-age children in developing countries.
A study in Bangladeshi children aged 3-11 years suggested that a link between diarrhea and impaired growth is present in school-age children and that efforts to reduce the frequency of diarrhea in these older children could have a significant effect on their catch-up growth (Torres, Orav, Willet, & Chen 1994). A study in Colombia revealed that more than 40 percent of the cases of diarrhea in schoolchildren could be attributed to school transmissions rather than transmission in homes (Koopman 1978).
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