ujh78

Diarrhea. Overall, we did not find sex disparities related to rates of child diarrhea. In half of
these countries, the diarrhea prevalence for children less than age 5 was lower in urban areas than in rural
areas. In 13 of 23 countries, the prevalence of diarrhea was higher for children living with a female
household head than for children living with a male household head. In Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda, the
age of the household head played an important role in diarrhea prevalence among children less than age 5.
In six countries—Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe—the prevalence of
diarrhea among children less than age 5 increased between surveys in the last 13 years. This increase was
more than four percentage points in Cameroon and Ghana.
Medical treatment of diarrhea. In 17 of 23 African countries, the percentage of children who
did not receive medical advice for recent diarrhea was higher for girls than for boys. In two-thirds of the
sub-Saharan African countries recent diarrhea was less likely to receive medical attention in rural areas
than in urban areas. These disparities were greatest—at least 15 percentage points—in Ethiopia, Guinea,
Madagascar, Mali, and Niger. In two-thirds of these sub-Saharan African countries, the percentage of
children who did not receive medical advice for diarrhea was higher for children living with a male
household head than for those living with a female household head. This difference was greatest—more
than six percentage points–in Mozambique, Guinea, Cameroon, and Nigeria. In half of these countries,
the percentage of children who did not receive medical advice was higher for children living with a
household head younger than 50 years old than for children living with an older household head. The
percentage of children who had diarrhea in the two weeks prior to the survey and did not receive medical
advice decreased between surveys in every sub-Saharan African country except Benin (increase of 3.8
percentage points).
7.3 Water and Sanitation Deprivation
Use of surface water. Overall, we did not find sex disparities related to the use of surface water
in sub-Saharan Africa. However, we did find geographic disparities. In these countries a higher
percentage of children in rural areas used surface water than in urban areas. The percentage of children
using surface water was at least five percentage points higher for children living with a male household
head than for children living with a female household head in Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia,
and Madagascar. Additionally, the percentage of children using surface water was at least three
percentage points higher for children living with a household head at least 50 years old than for children
living with a younger head of household head in Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, and Nigeria. Ethiopia, with
an increment of 29 percentage points, experienced the greatest increase in the percentage of children who
used surface water. Other countries that experienced relatively significant increases included Rwanda (11
percentage points) and Zimbabwe (8 percentage points). In contrast, Madagascar experienced the greatest
decrease on the continent (11 percentage points). An additional five countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana,
Kenya, Madagascar, and Malawi) also experienced a decrease of more than five percentage points in the
percentage of children using surface water.
15 minute walk to the water source. There were no sex disparities related to the percentages of
children who had to walk 15 minutes or more to their water source. In every country except Liberia, this
percentage was higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Whether the percentage of children living more
than a 15 minute walk from the primary water source was higher for children living with a male or a
female household head varied across these countries. The age of the household head was especially
important in Namibia, where the percentage of children living more than a 15 minute walk from the
primary water source was 16 percentage points higher for children living with a household head at least
50 years of age than for those who lived with a younger household head. Over the last 13 years large
increases in the percentage of children living more than a 15 minute walk from a primary water source
occurred in Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. This increase was most evident in Ethiopia, at 10
138