Editing Diarrhea (section)

====Sanitation====
[[File:Slum and dirty river.jpg|thumb|Poverty often leads to unhygienic living conditions, as in this community in the Indian Himalayas. Such conditions promote contraction of diarrheal diseases, as a result of poor [[sanitation]] and [[hygiene]].]]
[[Open defecation]] is a leading cause of infectious diarrhea leading to death.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs330/en/ |title=WHO &#124; Diarrhoeal disease |publisher=Who.int |access-date=10 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401193648/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs330/en/ |archive-date=1 April 2014 }}</ref>

Poverty is a good indicator of the rate of infectious diarrhea in a population. This association does not stem from poverty itself, but rather from the conditions under which impoverished people live. The absence of certain resources compromises the ability of the poor to defend themselves against infectious diarrhea. "Poverty is associated with poor housing, crowding, dirt floors, lack of access to clean water or to sanitary disposal of fecal waste ([[sanitation]]), cohabitation with domestic animals that may carry human pathogens, and a lack of refrigerated storage for food, all of which increase the frequency of diarrhea{{nbsp}}... Poverty also restricts the ability to provide age-appropriate, nutritionally balanced diets or to modify diets when diarrhea develops so as to mitigate and repair nutrient losses. The impact is exacerbated by the lack of adequate, available, and affordable medical care."<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Jamison DT |title=Disease control priorities in developing countries|date=2006|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8213-6179-5 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

One of the most common causes of infectious diarrhea is a lack of clean water. Often, improper fecal disposal leads to contamination of groundwater. This can lead to widespread infection among a population, especially in the absence of water filtration or purification. Human feces contains a variety of potentially harmful human [[pathogens]].<ref name="Brown 629–34">{{cite journal | vauthors = Brown J, Cairncross S, Ensink JH | title = Water, sanitation, hygiene and enteric infections in children | journal = Archives of Disease in Childhood | volume = 98 | issue = 8 | pages = 629–34 | date = August 2013 | pmid = 23761692 | pmc = 3717778 | doi = 10.1136/archdischild-2011-301528 }}</ref>