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Water system unreliability and diarrhea incidence among children in Guatemala

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

This article examines the effect of water system unreliability on diarrhea incidence among children aged 0–5 in Guatemala.

Methods

We use secondary data from a nationally representative sample of 7579 children to estimate the effects of uninterrupted and interrupted water services on diarrhea incidence. The national scope of this study imposes some methodological challenges due to unobserved geographical heterogeneity. To address this issue, we estimate mixed-effects logit models that control for unobserved heterogeneity by estimating random effects of selected covariates that can vary across geographical areas (i.e. water system reliability).

Results

Compared to children without access to piped water, children with uninterrupted water services have a lower probability of diarrhea incidence by approximately 33 percentage points. Conversely, there is no differential effect between children without access and those with at least one day of service interruptions in the previous month. Results also confirm negative effects of age, female gender, spanish language, and garbage disposal on diarrhea incidence.

Conclusions

Public health benefits of piped water are realized through uninterrupted provision of service, not merely access. Policy implications are discussed.

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Fig. 1

Data source: 2014 Living Standards Measurement Survey (ENCOVI), Guatemala

Fig. 2

Data source: 2014 Living Standards Measurement Survey (ENCOVI), Guatemala

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Economics, Sacred Heart University, 5151 Park Avenue, Fairfield, CT, 06825, USA

    Jennifer Trudeau

  2. Department of Economics, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT, 06824, USA

    Anna-Maria Aksan & William F. Vásquez

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  1. Jennifer Trudeau
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  2. Anna-Maria Aksan
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  3. William F. Vásquez
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Correspondence to Jennifer Trudeau.

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We certify that there is no external funding for this research nor does any participant benefit from the results of the study.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

Our research utilizes secondary data that was previously collected in Guatemala.

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Our research utilizes secondary data and thus does not require informed consent.

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Trudeau, J., Aksan, AM. & Vásquez, W.F. Water system unreliability and diarrhea incidence among children in Guatemala. Int J Public Health 63, 241–250 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-017-1054-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-017-1054-6

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