Improvements to water purification and sanitation infrastructure may reduce the diarrheal burden in a marginalized and flood prone population in remote Nicaragua

Table 1 Characteristics of Study participants in the Collaborative Sahsa Health Initiative in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua, 2009 (N = 189).

		Number of households^A	% of total households^B
Race^C
	Mestizo	171	91
	Miskito	16	9
	Other	1	1
Education^D
	Illiterate	33	18
	Literate, No education	31	17
	Preschool	1	1
	Primary School	80	43
	Secondary School	28	15
	University	3	2
	Trade school	1	1
	Don't Know	3	2
	No Response	5	3
Tambos^E
	Yes	77	41
	No	111	59
Time to health center^F
	Under 1 hour	96	53
	1 hr - <2 hrs	29	16
	2 hrs - <3 hrs	21	12
	3 hrs - <4 hrs	16	9
	4 hrs or more	19	11
Water Source
	Piping	78	41
	Well	60	32
	River	30	16
	Natural spring	17	9
	Other	4	2
Water purification method
	None	103	57
	Chlorine	54	30
	Filter	25	14
	Missing	1
Use latrine
	Yes	146	78
	No	41	22
	Missing	2
Latrine overflow in past year
	Yes	51	37
	No	88	63
	Missing	7
Diarrhea	Yes	77	41
	No	112	59

ISSN: 1472-698X