Efeitos de uma intervenção em saneamento na saúde humana: avaliação de uma experiência de gestão comunitária na área rural do Ceará

• Ano de defesa: 2015
• Autor(a) principal: Barbara Silva Passos
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; UFMG
• Palavras-chave em Português: Higiene; Saúde coletiva; Saneamento rural; Saneamento
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/BUBD-ABZHN9

Rural communities in developing countries have been historically excluded from public sanitation policies. This scenario is often justified by the high costs systems that are usually implemented, as these communities are small and dispersed with limited financial resourcesfor operation and maintenance. This situation favors the vulnerable condition, creating supply solutions without financial return and consequent low operating and quality of this service. The SISAR management model (Integrated Rural Sanitation) seeks empowerment and popular participation in order to ensure the quality and continuity of sanitation services, through community management, configured in sets of community associations with the support of the State. It is expected that water availability and quality is beneficial for human health through the prevention of waterborne diseases caused by lack of water for personal hygiene. This study presents the evaluation of the effects of sanitation on the health of a vulnerable population, through a longitudinal epidemiological study - before implementation and after two months of system operation - in two communities, intervention (Cristais) andcontrol (Complexo de Itapeim). Aspects being evaluated are the prevalence of diarrhea, presence of intestinal parasites in children up to five years and hygienic habits in two communities affiliated to SISAR. Analysis of the intervention and control communities before and after implementation indicate that: a) there was an increase in water consumption in domestic hygiene activities in both communities (51.4% in the control community and 340% in the intervention community); b) the prevalence of intestinal parasites increased in the control community and remained the same in the intervention community. This scenario isprimarily related to the quality of drinking water; c) the prevalence of diarrhea fell by four percentage points in the intervention community mainly due to the habit of washing hands, increasing access to antihelmintic drugs and the amount of water consumed in domestichygiene activities; d) the reduction of the proportion of children with z-score below the WHOs reference value in the intervention community was mainly caused by improving water quality, reducing intermittence and improving the hydraulic infrastructure of the residence. Thus, this study presented evidence that the water supply system is able to modifythe uses of water, increasing the amount of water spent in personal and home hygieneactivities, and to reduce intermittence, improve the quality of drinking water and increased domestic consumption minimize health risk in short time.