Discussion
In this study we had a unique opportunity to compare the
prevalence of diarrhoea as recorded in 1967 and three
decades later in 1997, in the same study sites in East Africa.
The situation seems to have deteriorated with the prevalence going up considerably in the Kenyan and Ugandan
sites, but with some improvement in the Tanzanian sites.
We attempted to gain an insight into the determinants of
diarrhoea morbidity in households in East Africa. The
findings are consistent with previous reviews by Kolsky
(1993) and Varley et al. (1998).
Multivariate regression did not indicate that the type of
sanitation facility was a statistically significant determinant
of the prevalence of diarrhoea. However, private ownership of sanitation facilities (of whatever type) was significant. Thus, it is not necessarily the type of sanitation
facility which is important, but rather the conditions of