BMJ Open; 13 (6), 2023
Publication year: 2023
Introduction We previously assessed the effect of an onsite sanitation intervention in informal neighbourhoods of urban Maputo, Mozambique on enteric pathogen detection in children after 2 years of follow-up (Maputo Sanitation (MapSan) trial, ClinicalTrials.
gov:
NCT02362932). We found significant reductions in Shigella and Trichuris prevalence but only among children born after the intervention was delivered. In this study, we assess the health impacts of the sanitation intervention after 5 years among children born into study households postintervention.
Methods and analysis We are conducting a crosssectional household study of enteric pathogen detection in child stool and the environment at compounds (household clusters sharing sanitation and outdoor living space) that received the pour-flush toilet and septic tank intervention at least 5 years prior or meet the original criteria for trial control sites. We are enrolling at least 400 children (ages 29 days to 60 months) in each treatment arm. Our primary outcome is the prevalence of 22 bacterial, protozoan, and soil transmitted helminth enteric pathogens in child stool using the pooled prevalence ratio across the outcome set to assess the overall intervention effect. Secondary outcomes include the individual pathogen detection prevalence and gene copy density of 27 enteric pathogens (including viruses); mean height-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height z-scores; prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting; and the 7-day period prevalence of caregiver-reported diarrhoea. All analyses are adjusted for prespecified covariates and examined for effect measure modification by age. Environmental samples from study households and the public domain are assessed for pathogens and faecal indicators to explore environmental exposures and monitor disease transmission.