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Session: Clean Hands, Clean Water and a Clean Environment
4216.0: Tuesday, November 9, 2004: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM
Oral
Clean Hands, Clean Water and a Clean Environment
People in the developing world suffer disproportionate– morbidity, mortality, and failure to thrive – from water and sanitation related diseases such as diarrhea that are largely preventable and that are often the direct result poor hygiene. Children in particular suffer the largest part of the disease burden associated with these conditions. According to WHO, child mortality from diarrhea has declined from 4.6 million deaths in 1980 to 1.6 million in 2002. Over the past two decades, donors’ support to child survival programs has contributed to the mortality reduction through case management of diarrhea and use of oral rehydration, in combination with strategies to improve host resistance. Yet, a parallel reduction in diarrhea-related morbidity has not been seen with severe consequences because of diarrhea’s close link to malnutrition. We already have some of the answers. The health community has demonstrated – and documented – the efficacy of personal and community hygiene practices: handwashing with soap, point-of-use water quality improvement, and household sanitation and the safe disposal of human feces. These practices, individually, can reduce the prevalence of diarrheal disease by 30-50%. In combination, they may reduce diarrheal disease even further up to two thirds. Moreover, poor urban and rural households usually have some capacity to adopt these practices. This session will show how further progress in reducing the overall morbidity associated with diarrhea can be facilitated by giving more attention to hygiene improvement interventions which have been demonstrated to be effective in terms of public health impact.
Learning Objectives: Participants will gain a solid understanding of the three most important interventions to prevent childhood diarrhea and the programmatic challenges associated with their implementation.
Moderator(s):John Borrazzo, PhD
2:30 PMIntroductory Remarks
2:35 PMChildren’s feces disposal practices in developing countries
Ana I. Gil, MSc, Claudio F. Lanata, MD, MPH, Mary E. Penny, MBchB, MRCP
2:50 PMDirt and Desire: Consumer Research to Design National Handwash Campaigns
Valerie Curtis, Beth Scott, Kristof Bostoen
3:05 PMDo households where health risks are greatest treat drinking water?  [ Recorded presentation ]
Gilbert Burnham, MD, PhD, Lynnette Olembo, MPH, Fred Kona, Eckhard Kleinau, Dr PH, MD
3:20 PMMeasuring access and practice: WaSH survey for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene practices  [ Recorded presentation ]
Kristof Bostoen, Eng, MSc, FRIPH
3:35 PMPeru Handwashing Initiative– a partnership to reduce childhood diarrhea  [ Recorded presentation ]
Rocio Florez
3:50 PMConcluding Remarks
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.
Organized by:International Health
Endorsed by:Alternative and Complementary Health Practices; Health Administration; Public Health Education and Health Promotion
CE Credits:CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing

The 132nd Annual Meeting (November 6-10, 2004) of APHA