A localized sanitation status index as a proxy for fecal contamination in urban Maputo, Mozambique.

ABSTRACT: Sanitary surveys are used in low- and middle-income countries to assess water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions, but have rarely been compared with direct measures of environmental fecal contamination. We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of sanitary conditions and E. coli counts in soils and on surfaces of compounds (household clusters) in low-income neighborhoods of Maputo, Mozambique. We adapted the World Bank's Urban Sanitation Status Index to implement a sanitary survey tool specifically for compounds: a Localized Sanitation Status Index (LSSI) ranging from zero (poor sanitary conditions) to one (better sanitary conditions) calculated from 20 variables that characterized local sanitary conditions. We measured the variation in the LSSI with E. coli counts in soil (nine locations

SUBMITTER: Capone D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6814227 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature