Abstract—In rural Indonesia, soil-transmitted helminth
(STH) infections cause health problems and impair social
development. We investigated whether those problems could be
solved by the use of household latrines (the ‘BALatrine’). Our
method was to study two villages, of which only one had
household latrines. The dependent variables were
environmental contamination (
Escherichia coli in well water),
STH-related illnesses and symptoms, and absence from work or
school due to bowel infections. The village with latrines had less
E. coli contamination. STH-related illnesses and symptoms
were less prevalent among participants who had a latrine than
among those who did not. Absence from work or school due to
bowel infection was much less common among participants who
had a latrine than among those who did not (6.2% vs 40.3%). In
conclusion, the BALatrine could have important public-health
and social benefits, and that hypothesis should be tested in a
controlled longitudinal study.
Index Terms—BALatrine, bowel infections, hygiene,
Indonesia, parasites, sanitation.
M. J. Park, Donald E. Stewart, and Ross Sadler are with the School of
Public Health at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia (e-mail:
mj.park@griffith.edu.au, ross.sadler@griffith.edu.au,
donald.stewart@griffith.edu.au).
Budi Laksono is with the Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia (e-mail:
blaksono@yahoo.com).
Archie Clements is with the School of Population Health of the University
of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (e-mail: a.clements@uq.edu.au).
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Cite: M. J. Park, Budi Laksono, Ross Sadler, Archie Clements, and Donald E. Stewart, " Household Latrines to Control Environmental
Contamination and Helminthiasis: An Exploratory Study
in Indonesia," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 429-435, 2015.