ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2018
Sanitation and water supply coverage thresholds associated with active trachoma: Modeling cross-sectional data from 13 countries.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Predictors of trachoma among children aged 1-9 years in Ethiopia: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Active trachoma among children aged 1-9 years in Ethiopia: A meta-analysis from 2019 to 2024.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Community-level trachoma ecological associations and the use of geospatial analysis methods: A systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of access to water supply and sanitation on the prevalence of active trachoma in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Open defecation-free slippage and its associated factors in Ethiopia: a systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Estimating the Intracluster Correlation Coefficient for the Clinical Sign "Trachomatous Inflammation-Follicular" in Population-Based Trachoma Prevalence Surveys: Results From a Meta-Regression Analysis of 261 Standardized Preintervention Surveys Carried Out in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria.American journal of epidemiology · 2020Pooled it
- Antibiotics for trachoma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- A search for trachoma in Timor-Leste: no evidence to justify undertaking population-based prevalence surveys.Ophthalmic epidemiology · 2018Pooled it
- Performance of Pit Latrines and Their Herd Protection Against Diarrhea: A Longitudinal Cohort Study in Rural Ethiopia.Global health, science and practice · 2024Trial
- Changing hygiene behaviours: a cluster-randomized trial, Ethiopia.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2021Trial
- Factors Influencing Sanitation Practices Among Women's in Finote Selam Town, Northwestern Ethiopia, 2024.Environmental health insights · 2026Article
- Surveys to substantiate elimination of trachoma as a public health problem in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.International health · 2025Article
- The prevalence of trachoma, ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection and anti-Pgp3 antibodies in Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Prevalence and spatial distributions of trachomatous inflammation-follicular among children aged 1-9 years in rural areas of Yilmana Densa and Gonji Kolela districts, Northwestern Ethiopia.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Trachoma.Lancet (London, England) · 2025Review
- Prevalence of ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection and antibodies within districts persistently endemic for trachoma, Amhara, Ethiopia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Trachoma Impact Survey Results from 31 Woredas in Tigray Region, Ethiopia.Ophthalmic epidemiology · 2024Article
- Ongoing transmission of trachoma in low prevalence districts in Mozambique: results from four cross-sectional enhanced impact surveys, 2022.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- "People are now working together for a common good": The effect on social capital of participatory design for community-level sanitation infrastructure in urban informal settlements.World development · 2024Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
24 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFacial cleanliness and sanitation are postulated to reduce trachoma transmission, but there are no previous data on community-level herd protection thresholds. We characterize associations between active trachoma, access to improved sanitation facilities, and access to improved water sources for the purpose of face washing, with the aim of estimating community-level or herd protection thresholds. METHODS AND
findingsWe used cluster-sampled Global Trachoma Mapping Project data on 884,850 children aged 1-9 years from 354,990 households in 13 countries. We employed multivariable mixed-effects modified Poisson regression models to assess the relationships between water and sanitation coverage and trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF). We observed lower TF prevalence among those with household-level access to improved sanitation (prevalence ratio, PR = 0.87; 95%CI: 0.83-0.91), and household-level access to an improved washing water source in the residence/yard (PR = 0.81; 95%CI: 0.75-0.88). Controlling for household-level water and latrine access, we found evidence of community-level protection against TF for children living in communities with high sanitation coverage (PR80-90% = 0.87; 95%CI: 0.73-1.02; PR90-100% = 0.76; 95%CI: 0.67-0.85). Community sanitation coverage levels greater than 80% were associated with herd protection against TF (PR = 0.77; 95%CI: 0.62-0.97)-that is, lower TF in individuals whose households lacked individual sanitation but who lived in communities with high sanitation coverage. For community-level water coverage, there was no apparent threshold, although we observed lower TF among several of the higher deciles of community-level water coverage.
conclusionsOur study provides insights into the community water and sanitation coverage levels that might be required to best control trachoma. Our results suggest access to adequate water and sanitation can be important components in working towards the 2020 target of eliminating trachoma as a public health problem.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.