Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. AcknowledgementsThis work is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, under the project "WATSAN-AGICULTURE -guiding pro-poor investments in the nexus among domestic water quality and quantity, sanitation and hygiene, and agriculture from the bottom-up." We would like to acknowledge the support from the Center for Development Research (ZEF), the Ethiopian Economics Association (EEA), the Welthungerhilfe and the Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara (ORDA) during our field research in Ethiopia. We are also grateful to the members of the AG-WATSAN project for their valuable comments and suggestions at several of our project seminars and workshops. We also thank Evita H. Pangaribowo for her guidance in the preparation of the field work and the data collectors for their hard work during the household survey. AbstractThis paper examines the impact of drinking water quality and sanitation behavior on child health in rural districts of Ethiopia. Using primary household survey data and microbiological water test for Escherichia coli, we use various estimation methods to quantify the impacts of water quality and sanitation behavior on diarrhea incidence among children under five years old. Our results show that uncontaminated household storage water and safe child stool disposal decrease incidence of child diarrhea by 16% and 23% respectively. In contrast, neighborhood concentration of pit latrine increases incidence of child diarrhea by 12%. The latter result casts serious doubt on the assumed health and social benefits of moving from open to fixed-location defecation. Creating open defecation free communities in rural areas is not enough to achieve the desired health benefits of sanitation. To protect rural households from the risk of contracting communicable diseases, existing pit latrines should be upgraded to make them safer to use -fly-proofed and hygienic. There is a need for appropriate policy actions to improve household drinking water quality and to change people's behavior towards safe sanitation practices. Increasing access to clean water supply and providing means for safe excreta disposal will bring significant health and social gains. Moreover, promotion of hygiene education campaigns about household water treatment, safe water storage and handling, washing hands with soaps at critical times, and adequately removing child feces from the domestic environment can also help ensure that people preserve good health in their h...

Market access influences the dietary diversity and food security for smallholder households in many ways. In Ethiopia, most smallholders are subsistence farmers who have poor access to markets. This study used primary data from a household survey to examine the relationship between market access and the dietary diversity and food security for 324 smallholder households in the Yayu area of southwestern Ethiopia in early 2018. Multivariate regression analysis showed that households located far from market centers consumed not only less diverse foods but also spend less on food consumption than households located close to market centers. The correlation between market access and food security measured by Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) did not reach statistical significance, nor did the impact of market access on household consumption and dietary diversity through income. Rather, greater market access appeared to encourage smallholder households to rely on market purchases more than their own production to improve the diversity of household consumption. A direct action to improve the market accessibility would be investments in infrastructure to expand rural road connectivity, which would reduce transaction costs and benefit the welfare of smallholder farmers and communities.

The CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH (ZEF) was established in 1995 as an international, interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Bonn. Research and teaching at ZEF address political, economic and ecological development problems. ZEF closely cooperates with national and international partners in research and development organizations. For information, see: www.zef.de. ZEF-Discussion Papers on Development Policy are intended to stimulate discussion among researchers, practitioners and policy makers on current and emerging development issues. Each paper has been exposed to an internal discussion within the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and an external review. The papers mostly reflect work in progress. The Editorial Committee of the ZEF-DISCUSSION PAPERS ON DEVELOPMENT POLICY includes Joachim von Braun (Chair), Christian Borgemeister, and Eva Youkhana. Chiara Kofol is the Managing Editor of the series.

This study aims at assessing the determinants of microbiological contamination of household drinking water under multiple-use water systems in rural areas of Ethiopia. For this analysis, a random sample of 454 households was surveyed between February and March 2014, and water samples from community sources and household storage containers were collected and tested for fecal contamination. The number of Escherichia coli (E. coli) colony-forming units per 100 mL water was used as an indicator of fecal contamination. The microbiological tests demonstrated that 58% of household stored water samples and 38% of protected community water sources were contaminated with E. coli. Moreover, most improved water sources often considered to provide safe water showed the presence of E. coli. The result shows that households' stored water collected from unprotected wells/springs had higher levels of E. coli than stored water from alternative sources. Distance to water sources and water collection containers are also strongly associated with stored water quality. To ensure the quality of stored water, the study suggests that there is a need to promote water safety from the point-of-source to point-of-use, with due considerations for the linkages between water and agriculture to advance the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of ensuring access to clean water for everyone.

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