Drivers of sustained sanitation access: social network and demographic predictors of latrine reconstruction after flooding disasters

Abstract

Flooding disasters pose a threat to sanitation services and can result in loss of access that exacerbates challenges to achieving universal access. To maintain and even improve access to sanitation services, a better understanding of latrine reconstruction decisions is needed. Reconstruction is defined here as the digging of a new latrine pit to replace a pit that collapsed or was filled due to a flooding disaster. To this end, social network analysis was used to identify household and social network variables associated with a household's (i) decision to reconstruct their latrine and, if they reconstructed, (ii) to choose an improved over an unimproved latrine. Of the 380 flood-affected households in Ethiopia, flooding disaster damage resulted in high loss of latrine access as 43% did not reconstruct a latrine. A household was more likely to reconstruct their latrine if their social contacts owned latrines and less likely to reconstruct if their social contacts were also flood-affected. Of households that reconstructed, a household was more likely to choose an improved latrine if they had a larger household size and their head had a higher educational attainment and was older. Overall, the results suggest that social networks may be important to understanding latrine reconstruction after flooding disasters and can be used to improve sanitation resilience.