Effectiveness of sanitary toilet construction in rural areas with schistosomiasis epidemic

ObjectiveTo comm unicate the experiences of schistosom iasis control, and assess the effectiveness of rebuilding toilet program in schistosom iasis regions.MethodsSeven provinces with current schistosom iasis epidem is including Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and Jiangsu provincewere the settings for the study.Two counties in each province and 3 villages in each county were randomly sampled.Among 3 villages selected, two had sanitary toilets, and the other did not Twenty households were randomly sampled from each village for field study.ResultsThe schistosom iasis infectious rate and diarrhea incidence rate in the areas with the construction of sanitary toilets was 47.32% and 42.31% lower than that of the contrast areas.In the areas with construction of sanitary toilets, the schistosom iasis prevalence among the population using sanitary toilets was 63.5% lower than that of without sanitary toilet use.ConclusionConstruction and popularization of sanitary toilet in the rural areas with schistosom iasis epidemis is proved to be an effective measure for schistosom iasis incidence and diarrhea incidence control and achieves significant health effectiveness.