Water, Sanitation, And Primary School Attendance: A Multi- Level Assessment Of Determinants Of Household-Reported Absence In Kenya

This cross-sectional analysis examined the influence of school and household water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions on recent primary school absence in light of other individual, household, and school characteristics in western Kenya. School latrine cleanliness was the only school WASH factor associated with reduced odds of absence. The marginal effect of household characteristics, such as distance to water source, child involvement in water collection, and presence of a latrine, differed by gender. Demographic features were more important predictors of absence, suggesting that interventions to improve attendance must consider existing differentials attributable to gender, socioeconomic status, and other household characteristics. Dreibelbis R, Greene LE, Freeman MC, Saboori S, Chase, R, Rheingans R. 2013. Water, sanitation, and primary school attendance: a multi-level assessment of determinants of household-reported absence in Kenya. International Journal of Educational Development 33:1. Volume 33, Issue 5, September 2013, Pages 457–465. Version of record available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2012.07.002 Water, Sanitation, And Primary School Attendance: A Multi-Level Assessment Of Determinants Of Household-Reported Absence In Kenya Robert Dreibelbis a,b,*, Leslie E. Greene , Matthew C. Freeman , Shadi Saboori , Rachel P. Chase , Richard Rheingans a,c a Center for Global Safe Water, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA b Social and Behavioral Interventions Program, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA c Department of Global and Environmental Health, Center for African Studies, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA A R T I C L E I N F O