Impact of the “BALatrine” Intervention on Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections in Central Java, Indonesia: A Pilot Study
by
Darren J Gray 1, Johanna M Kurscheid 1,*,†
, MJ Park 2, Budi Laksono 3, Dongxu Wang 4, Archie CA Clements 5,6, Suharyo Hadisaputro 7, Ross Sadler 8 and Donald E Stewart 8
Darren J Gray 1, Johanna M Kurscheid 1,*,†, MJ Park 2, Budi Laksono 3, Dongxu Wang 4, Archie CA Clements 5,6, Suharyo Hadisaputro 7, Ross Sadler 8 and Donald E Stewart 8
1
Department of Global Health, Research School of Population Health, the Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia
2
College of Nursing, Konyang University, Deajeon 35365, Korea
3
Yayasan Wahanna Bakti Sehatera (YWBS) Foundation, Semarang 50183, Indonesia
4
Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia
5
Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
6
Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia
7
Poltekkes Kemenkes Semarang 50268, Indonesia
8
School of Medicine, Griffith University and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4222, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Joint first Author.
Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2019, 4(4), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed4040141
Received: 12 November 2019 / Revised: 28 November 2019 / Accepted: 4 December 2019 / Published: 6 December 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Diagnosis, Epidemiology and Control on Soil-Transmitted Helminth (STH) Infections)
Many latrine campaigns in developing countries fail to be sustained because the introduced latrine is not appropriate to local socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions, and there is an inadequate community health education component. We tested a low-cost, locally designed and constructed all-weather latrine (the “BALatrine”), together with community education promoting appropriate hygiene-related behaviour, to determine whether this integrated intervention effectively controlled soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections. We undertook a pilot intervention study in two villages in Central Java, Indonesia. The villages were randomly allocated to either control or intervention with the intervention village receiving the BALatrine program and the control village receiving no program. STH-infection status was measured using the faecal flotation diagnostic method, before and eight months after the intervention. Over 8 months, the cumulative incidence of STH infection was significantly lower in the intervention village than in the control village: 13.4% vs. 27.5% (67/244 vs. 38/283, p < 0.001). The intervention was particularly effective among children: cumulative incidence 3.8% (2/53) for the intervention vs. 24.1% (13/54) for the control village (p < 0.001). The integrated BALatrine intervention was associated with a reduced incidence of STH infection. Following on from this pilot study, a large cluster-randomised controlled trial was commenced (ACTRN12613000523707).
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Keywords:
water; sanitation and hygiene (WASH); latrine intervention; soil-transmitted helminths; Indonesia
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MDPI and ACS Style
Gray, D.J.; Kurscheid, J.M.; Park, M.; Laksono, B.; Wang, D.; Clements, A.C.; Hadisaputro, S.; Sadler, R.; Stewart, D.E. Impact of the “BALatrine” Intervention on Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections in Central Java, Indonesia: A Pilot Study. Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2019, 4, 141.
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