Two survey cycles were conducted in six provinces of Burkina Faso’s Central Region between December 1994 and June 1995. Some 2,700 households in 20 sites participated. The study, supported by UNICEF, indicated a protective effect of two principal types of interventions, one public and one private. Where families have access to and use a protected water source, diarrhoea prevalence was reduced; and where mothers initiate feeding soon after the beginning of a diarrhoea episode, as opposed to withholding food, the duration of the diarrhoea episode was shortened. When combined with other health measures such as immunization and use of oral rehydration these effects were even greater.