title: Using Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis Methods to Assess Household Water Access and Sanitation Coverage in the SHINE Trial.
abstract: Access to water and sanitation are important determinants of behavioral responses to hygiene and sanitation interventions. We estimated cluster-specific water access and sanitation coverage to inform a constrained randomization technique in the SHINE trial. Technicians and engineers inspected all public access water sources to ascertain seasonality, function, and geospatial coordinates. Households and water sources were mapped using open-source geospatial software. The distance from each household to the nearest perennial, functional, protected water source was calculated, and for each cluster, the median distance and the proportion of households within <500 m and >1500 m of such a water source. Cluster-specific sanitation coverage was ascertained using a random sample of 13 households per cluster. These parameters were included as covariates in randomization to optimize balance in water and sanitation access across treatment arms at the start of the trial. The observed high variability between clusters in both parameters suggests that constraining on these factors was needed to reduce risk of bias.
authors.affiliation: Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ntozini
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Duebendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.affiliation: Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research, Harare, Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Goldberg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mangwadu
authors.affiliation: Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research, Harare, Zimbabwe Center for Human Nutrition.
authors.forename: Mduduzi N N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Mbuya
authors.affiliation: Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gerema
authors.affiliation: Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Batsirai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mutasa
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Duebendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Timothy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Julian
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Kellogg J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Schwab
authors.affiliation: Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research, Harare, Zimbabwe Center for Human Nutrition.
authors.forename: Jean H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Humphrey
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria.
authors.forename: Lindiwe I
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Zungu
mesh_terms: D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D012499:Sanitation; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D014881:Water Supply; D015030:Zimbabwe
keywords: geographic information systems; georeferenced dataset; spatial analysis; water access; water coverage