EFFICIENCY OF EPI CLUSTER SAMPLING FOR ASSESSING DIARRHEA AND DYSENTERY PREVALENCE

This study examines the efficiency of EPI cluster sampling in assessin g the prevalence of diarrhoea and dysentery, A computer was used to si mulate fieldwork carried out by a survey taker The bias and variance o f prevalence estimates obtained using EPI cluster sampling were compar ed with those obtained using simple random sampling and cluster (strat ified random) sampling, Efficiency ratios, calculated as the mean squa re error divided by total distance travelled, were used to compare EPI cluster sampling to simple random sampling and standard cluster sampl ing, EPI cluster sampling may be an appropriate low-cost tool for moni toring trends in the prevalence of diarrhoea and dysentery over time, However it should be used with caution when estimating the prevalence of diarrhoea at a single point in time because of tile bias associated with this cluster sampling method.