Promoting sanitation in Bangladesh.

A community-level survey was made in Bangladesh to assess the effectiveness of a health promotion campaign on sanitation. The data collected showed that the mobilization of schoolchildren to promote the construction and use of sanitary latrines had a significant impact on local practices. Poorer families appeared to be more responsive to the idea of building their own sanitary latrines than those who were slightly better off, who sometimes saw the homemade latrine as a symbol of low status. In several cases the woman of the household did the construction work rather than the man, and this aspect of women's participation could usefully be emphasized in future campaigns.