Children in Guatemala practice good hygiene before preparing food.
- 54% of the population lives in poverty
- 89% lack quality housing
- 42% lack latrines or basic sanitation
- 14% lack potable water
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadistca (INE), Guatemala
Respiratory infections and diarrhea are the two leading causes of death among children younger than 5 years old. Household water treatment and hand washing with soap are ways to reduce diarrhea and respiratory infections in young children by between 30 and 40 percent in randomized controlled trials.
The majority of the households in the region have unsafe water supply and storage and inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
A Family's sleeping quarters in Despoblado Centro.
In 2003, health volunteers visited Guatemalan households to promote simple household water treatment methods (SODIS, chlorine, boiling), hand washing with soap and good hygiene. They also provided nutritional supplementation and agricultural education to the people of Camotán, Guatemala. The objective of the study was to find out whether behavior-driven water and hygiene interventions were effective and sustainable.
In 2004 through 2006, a group of non-governmental organizations implemented a community-based education program that promoted simple methods to treat water (solar, chlorine, boiling), safe water storage, hand washing with soap at key times and proper nutrition.
A team of five trained field staff collected data in the 30 communities during April and May 2007.
A Researcher interviews a mother to determine household water use practices.
The majority of villages have serious environmental contamination.
The communities targeted were the ones with the most need, based on water sources, sanitation coverage and poor child health. Within villages, the program targeted households with children less than three years old.
Promoters visited these families in 30 communities monthly or bimonthly for two years and provided families with a food supplement of rice, beans and oil. They measured key growth metrics such as height, weight, upper arm and head circumference.
Details are being collected in connection with child health, water use and practices, hygiene practices, sanitation, quality of life and socio-economic information to find out whether children in program communities have improved health compared to children in control communities.
The goal of the research is to evaluate child health outcomes like diarrhea, respiratory infections, stunting and wasting, and intermediate behavioral outcomes such as hand washing behavior and knowledge and water treatment.
Researchers take the measurements of one of the infants in the community.