Page 47 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.78, # 2, 2021, pp. 43-62

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Yongsi (2010) evaluated health risks in the usage of contaminated drinking-water
and its relationship with the prevalence of diarrhea diseases in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Using a cross-sectional epidemiological design of 3,034 households with children
aged less than five years, revealed a diarrhea prevalence of 14.4 percent in children.
Among various risk factors examined, water-supply modes and quality of drinking-
water were statistically associated with diarrhea cases while levels of diarrhea
attacks varied considerably from one neighbourhood to the other. Further, Yongsi
(2008) found that diarrhea illnesses remain one of the principal causes of global
childhood mortality and morbidity and concluded that diarrhea diseases and their
spatial distribution are important tools for public health management and control
strategic planning in Cameroon.

In the same line, Sambe-Ba (2013) examined the epidemiological and microbiological
aspects of Community-acquired diarrhea among children and adults in urban, Senegal
and realized that viral infection was significantly more frequent in children under five
years old during the dry season. Bacteria and parasites were equally noted to be frequent
in all age groups. There was equally a seasonal variation of bacterial infections during
the study period, with a higher proportion of infections being bacterial and due to
Salmonella spp. in particular, during the rainy season. This study suggests that in urban
settings in Senegal, rotavirus is the principal cause of pediatric diarrhea during the dry
season and that the proportion of bacterial infections seems to be higher during the rainy
season. Moe et al (1991) evaluated four bacterial indicators of tropical drinking-water
quality (faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, enterococci and faecal streptococci) and their
relationship to the prevalence of diarrhea disease in a population of 690 under-2-year-
olds in Cebu, Philippines. E. coli and enterococci were better predictors than faecal
coliforms of the risk of waterborne diarrhea disease. They noted that little difference
was observed between the illness rates of children drinking good quality water (less than
1 E. coli per 100 ml) and those drinking moderately contaminated water (2-100 E. coli
per 100 ml). Children drinking water with greater than 1000 E. coli per 100 ml had
significantly higher rates of diarrhea disease than those drinking less contaminated
water. They concluded that in developing countries where the quality of drinking-water
is good or moderate other transmission routes of diarrhea disease may be more
important; however, grossly contaminated water is a major source of exposure to faecal
contamination and diarrhea pathogens.

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