Trial reportEnvironmental science & technology2018
Do Sanitation Improvements Reduce Fecal Contamination of Water, Hands, Food, Soil, and Flies? Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural Bangladesh.
Trial report in Environmental science & technology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01590095 (WASH Benefits Bangladesh), which is not on this map. Cited by 51 papers, 2 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.
WASH Benefits Bangladesh: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of the Benefits of Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Plus Nutrition Interventions on Child Growth
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of interventions to improve drinking water, sanitation, and handwashing with soap on risk of diarrhoeal disease in children in low-income and middle-income settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet (London, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Hand-washing promotion for preventing diarrhoea.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Examining the effect of neighborhood sanitation coverage on childhood diarrheal disease in rural Bangladesh.International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2026Trial
- Understanding the Effectiveness of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions: A Counterfactual Simulation Approach to Generalizing the Outcomes of Intervention Trials.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Trial
- Assessing sustained uptake of latrine and child feces management interventions: Extended follow-up of a cluster-randomized controlled trial in rural Bangladesh 1-3.5 years after intervention initiation.International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Effect of sanitation improvements on soil-transmitted helminth eggs in courtyard soil from rural Bangladesh: Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Trial
- Longitudinal Effects of a Sanitation Intervention on Environmental Fecal Contamination in a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural Bangladesh.Environmental science & technology · 2021Trial
- Ingestion of Fecal Bacteria along Multiple Pathways by Young Children in Rural Bangladesh Participating in a Cluster-Randomized Trial of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions (WASH Benefits).Environmental science & technology · 2020Trial
- Effect of Sanitation Improvements on Pathogens and Microbial Source Tracking Markers in the Rural Bangladeshi Household Environment.Environmental science & technology · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Effects of Single and Combined Water, Sanitation and Handwashing Interventions on Fecal Contamination in the Domestic Environment: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural Bangladesh.Environmental science & technology · 2018Trial
- Videography of pathways for enteric pathogen exposure among children in urban informal settlements in Fiji and Indonesia.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Animal husbandry and environmental conditions are associated with cefotaxime-resistantmedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Rainfall and temperature influence effectiveness of on-site sanitation intervention against E. coli contamination in Bangladeshi households.International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2026Article
- Associations between Water Supply Interruptions and Water Use, Drinking Water Quality, Child Health, and Caregiver Stress in Peri-Urban Malawi.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Animal husbandry and environmental conditions are associated with cefotaxime-resistant Escherichia coli in yard soil in peri-urban Malawi.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- A pre-post pilot study with and without subsidy to promote improved backyard poultry-raising practices to reduce exposure to poultry and poultry feces in rural Bangladesh.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Dirt Floors and Domestic Animals Are Associated with Soilborne Exposure to Antimicrobial-ResistantEnvironmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Patterns of acute watery diarrhea in Fiji: understanding the implications for water and sanitation services.BMC public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors at 9 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sanitation improvements have had limited effectiveness in reducing the spread of fecal pathogens into the environment. We conducted environmental measurements within a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh that implemented individual and combined water treatment, sanitation, handwashing (WSH) and nutrition interventions (WASH Benefits, NCT01590095). Following approximately 4 months of intervention, we enrolled households in the trial's control, sanitation and combined WSH arms to assess whether sanitation improvements, alone and coupled with water treatment and handwashing, reduce fecal contamination in the domestic environment. We quantified fecal indicator bacteria in samples of drinking and ambient waters, child hands, food given to young children, courtyard soil and flies. In the WSH arm, Escherichia coli prevalence in stored drinking water was reduced by 62% (prevalence ratio = 0.38 (0.32, 0.44)) and E. coli concentration by 1-log (Δlog
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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.