School Children’s Intestinal Parasite and Nutritional Status One Year after Complementary School Garden, Nutrition, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions in Burkina Faso

Séverine Erismann Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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Serge Diagbouga Institut de Recherches en Sciences de la Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso;

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Christian Schindler Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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Peter Odermatt Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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Astrid M. Knoblauch Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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Jana Gerold Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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Andrea Leuenberger Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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Akina Shrestha Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;
Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal

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Grissoum Tarnagda Institut de Recherches en Sciences de la Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso;

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Jürg Utzinger Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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Guéladio Cissé Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland;
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;

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The potential health benefits of combined agricultural, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions are poorly understood. We aimed to determine whether complementary school garden, nutrition, and WASH interventions reduce intestinal parasites and improve school children’s nutritional status in two regions of Burkina Faso. A cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Plateau Central and Center-Ouest regions of Burkina Faso. A total of 360 randomly selected children, aged 8–15 years, had complete baseline and end-line survey data. Mixed regression models were used to assess the impact of the interventions, controlling for baseline characteristics. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections decreased both in intervention and control schools, but the decrease was significantly higher in the intervention schools related to the control schools (odds ratio [OR] of the intervention effect = 0.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.1–0.5). Indices of undernutrition did not decrease at end-line in intervention schools. Safe handwashing practices before eating and the use of latrines at schools were significantly higher in the intervention schools than in the control schools at end-line (OR = 6.9, 95% CI = 1.4–34.4, and OR = 14.9, 95% CI = 1.4–153.9, respectively). Parameters of water quality remained unchanged. A combination of agricultural, nutritional, and WASH-related interventions embedded in the social–ecological systems and delivered through the school platform improved several child health outcomes, including intestinal parasitic infections and some WASH-related behaviors. Sustained interventions with stronger household and community-based components are, however, needed to improve school children’s health in the long-term.

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Author Notes

Address correspondence to Guéladio Cissé, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland. E-mail: gueladio.cisse@swisstph.ch

Financial support: This work is part of the “Vegetables go to School” research project (Collaborative Project); supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation under grant agreement contract number 81024052 (project 7F-08511.01). The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Authors’ addresses: Séverine Erismann, Christian Schindler, Peter Odermatt, Astrid M. Knoblauch, Jana Gerold, Andrea Leuenberger, Jürg Utzinger, and Guéladio Cissé, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland, and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, E-mails: severine.erismann@swisstph.ch, christian.schindler@swisstph.ch, peter.odermatt@swisstph.ch, astrid.knoblauch@swisstph.ch, jana.gerold@swisstph.ch, leuenberger.andrea@gmail.com, juerg.utzinger@swisstph.ch, and gueladio.cisse@swisstph.ch. Serge Diagbouga and Grissoum Tarnagda, Institut de Recherches en Sciences de la Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, E-mails: diagbouga_serge@hotmail.com and gtarnagda@gmail.com. Akina Shrestha, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, and Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal, E-mail: akina.shrestha@swisstph.ch.

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