IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cgd/wpaper/117.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cost-Effective Prevention of Diarrheal Diseases: A Critical Review

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Kremer
  • Alix Peterson Zwane

Abstract

This paper critically reviews the existing research on the cost-effective prevention and treatment of diarrheal diseases, and identifies research priorities in this area aimed at finding ways to reduce the diarrheal disease burden. In contrast to the empirical knowledge base that exists for traditional child health programs to reduce diarrheal morbidity and mortality, evidence on the relative effectiveness and costeffectiveness of various environmental health interventions is limited and subject to significant methodological concerns. There is a limited understanding of the determinants of longterm water and sanitation technology adoption and behavior change at the individual level. Even less is known about how collective action problems in water and sanitation infrastructure maintenance can be overcome. An agenda for future research includes evaluating alternative transmission interruption mechanisms, improving understanding of the determinants of individual-level technology adoption in the water and sanitation sector, and assessing the quality of infrastructure maintenance under different management schemes.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Kremer & Alix Peterson Zwane, 2007. "Cost-Effective Prevention of Diarrheal Diseases: A Critical Review," Working Papers 117, Center for Global Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgd:wpaper:117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cgdev.org/files/13495_file_Kremer_Diarrheal_Prevention.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Kremer & Edward Miguel, 2007. "The Illusion of Sustainability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1007-1065.
    2. Eckel, Catherine C & Grossman, Philip J, 1998. "Are Women Less Selfish Than Men? Evidence from Dictator Experiments," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(448), pages 726-735, May.
    3. Solow, John L. & Kirkwood, Nicole, 2002. "Group identity and gender in public goods experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 403-412, August.
    4. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.
    5. David M. Cutler & Grant Miller, 2004. "The Role of Public Health Improvements in Health Advances: The 20th Century United States," NBER Working Papers 10511, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. McPake, Barbara, 1993. "User charges for health services in developing countries: A review of the economic literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 1397-1405, June.
    7. Sebastian Galiani & Paul Gertler & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2005. "Water for Life: The Impact of the Privatization of Water Services on Child Mortality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 83-120, February.
    8. Briscoe, J., 1984. "Water supply and health in developing countries: Selective primary health care revisited," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 74(9), pages 1009-1013.
    9. Edward Miguel & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 159-217, January.
    10. David Cutler & Grant Miller, 2005. "The role of public health improvements in health advances: The twentieth-century United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-22, February.
    11. Watson, Tara, 2006. "Public health investments and the infant mortality gap: Evidence from federal sanitation interventions on U.S. Indian reservations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1537-1560, September.
    12. Agarwal, Bina, 2000. "Conceptualising Environmental Collective Action: Why Gender Matters," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 24(3), pages 283-310, May.
    13. Raghabendra Chattopadhyay & Esther Duflo, 2004. "Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(5), pages 1409-1443, September.
    14. Nowell, Clifford & Tinkler, Sarah, 1994. "The influence of gender on the provision of a public good," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 25-36, September.
    15. Okun, D.A., 1988. "The value of water supply and sanitation in development: An assessment," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 78(11), pages 1463-1467.
    16. Dollar, David & Fisman, Raymond & Gatti, Roberta, 2001. "Are women really the "fairer" sex? Corruption and women in government," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 423-429, December.
    17. Kleemeier, Elizabeth, 2000. "The Impact of Participation on Sustainability: An Analysis of the Malawi Rural Piped Scheme Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 929-944, May.
    18. Miller, Peter & Hirschhorn, Norbert, 1995. "The effect of a national control of diarrheal diseases program on mortality: The case of Egypt," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1-30, May.
    19. John Newman & Menno Pradhan & Laura B. Rawlings & Geert Ridder & Ramiro Coa & Jose Luis Evia, 2002. "An Impact Evaluation of Education, Health, and Water Supply Investments by the Bolivian Social Investment Fund," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 16(2), pages 241-274, August.
    20. Dayton-Johnson, Jeff, 2000. "Determinants of collective action on the local commons: a model with evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 181-208, June.
    21. Tayeh, Ahmed & Cairncross, Sandy & Maude, Gillian H., 1996. "The impact of health education to promote cloth filters on dracunculiasis prevalence in the Northern Region, Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1205-1211, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joseph J. Capuno & Carlos Antonio R. Tan, Jr., 2012. "Are improved water supply and sanitation always safe for children? Implications for attaining the MDGs in the Philippines," UP School of Economics Discussion Papers 201209, University of the Philippines School of Economics.
    2. Carlos Antonio R. Tan, Jr. & Joseph J. Capuno, 2012. "Household decisions and child health : Estimating the links between water treatment and the incidence of diarrhea using non-recursive two-equation causal models," UP School of Economics Discussion Papers 201202, University of the Philippines School of Economics.
    3. Youssouf Kiendrebeogo, 2012. "Access to Improved Water Sources and Rural Productivity: Analytical Framework and Cross-country Evidence," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 24(2), pages 153-166.
    4. Reshmaan Hussam & Atonu Rabbani & Giovanni Reggiani & Natalia Rigol, 2017. "Habit Formation and Rational Addiction: A Field Experiment in Handwashing," Harvard Business School Working Papers 18-030, Harvard Business School.
    5. Kosec, Katrina, 2014. "The child health implications of privatizing africa's urban water supply," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-19.
    6. Santosh, Kumar & Sebastian, Vollmer, 2011. "Does improved sanitation reduce diarrhea in children in rural India?," MPRA Paper 31804, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Joseph J. Capuno & Carlos Antonio R. Tan, Jr. & Xylee Javier, 2016. "WASH for child health: Some evidence in support of public intervention in the Philippines," UP School of Economics Discussion Papers 201611, University of the Philippines School of Economics.
    8. Reshmaan Hussam & Abu S. Shonchoy & Chikako Yamauchi & Kailash Pandey, 2021. "Translating Information into Action: A Public Health Experiment in Bangladesh," Working Papers 2127, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    9. Usman, Muhammed Abdella & Gerber, Nicolas & von Braun, Joachim, 2016. "The Impact of Drinking Water Quality and Sanitation Behavior on Child Health: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," Discussion Papers 241764, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alix Peterson Zwane & Michael Kremer, 2007. "What Works in Fighting Diarrheal Diseases in Developing Countries? A Critical Review," CID Working Papers 140, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    2. Michael Geruso & Dean Spears, 2018. "Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 125-162, April.
    3. Spears, Dean & Lamba, Sneha, 2013. "Effects of early-life exposure to sanitation on childhood cognitive skills : evidence from India's total sanitation campaign," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6659, The World Bank.
    4. Barde, Julia Alexa, 2017. "What Determines Access to Piped Water in Rural Areas? Evidence from Small-Scale Supply Systems in Rural Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 88-110.
    5. Sheila M. Olmstead, 2010. "The Economics of Water Quality," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(1), pages 44-62, Winter.
    6. Dean Spears & Sneha Lamba, 2016. "Effects of Early-Life Exposure to Sanitation on Childhood Cognitive Skills: Evidence from India’s Total Sanitation Campaign," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(2), pages 298-327.
    7. Wagstaff, Adam & Yu, Shengchao, 2007. "Do health sector reforms have their intended impacts?: The World Bank's Health VIII project in Gansu province, China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 505-535, May.
    8. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.
    9. Kesztenbaum, Lionel & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, 2017. "Sewers’ diffusion and the decline of mortality: The case of Paris, 1880–1914," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 174-186.
    10. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.
    11. Payal Hathi & Sabrina Haque & Lovey Pant & Diane Coffey & Dean Spears, 2017. "Place and Child Health: The Interaction of Population Density and Sanitation in Developing Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 337-360, February.
    12. Stefano Gagliarducci & M. Daniele Paserman, 2012. "Gender Interactions within Hierarchies: Evidence from the Political Arena," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(3), pages 1021-1052.
    13. Shigute, Z., 2019. "Community participation and the quality of rural infrastructure in Ethiopia," ISS Working Papers - General Series 643, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    14. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2018. "Women and corruption: What positions must they hold to make a difference?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 219-233.
    15. Hoehn-Velasco, Lauren, 2018. "Explaining declines in US rural mortality, 1910–1933: The role of county health departments," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 42-72.
    16. Brollo, Fernanda & Troiano, Ugo, 2016. "What happens when a woman wins an election? Evidence from close races in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 28-45.
    17. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2009. "The Experimental Approach to Development Economics," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 151-178, May.
    18. Eduard Marinov, 2019. "The 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 78-116.
    19. Meeks, Robyn, 2018. "Property Rights and Water Access: Evidence from Land Titling in Rural Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 345-357.
    20. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2013. "Village sanitation and children's human capital : evidence from a randomized experiment by the Maharashtra government," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6580, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Diarrheal Diseases; Global Health;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cgd:wpaper:117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Publications Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cgdevus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.