Relationship Between Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Practices and The Incidence of Water Borne Diseases Among Urban Slum Households in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Paucity of clean water, poor sanitation and poor personal hygiene practices impose high danger to life. Common water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid fever, hepatitis A and cholera are caused by unhealthy water, poor sanitation and poor personal hygiene practices. The study examined the relationship between water, sanitation, hygiene practices and the incidence of water borne diseases among urban slum households in Lagos State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected with the aid of questionnaire from 120 household heads selected from four Local Government Areas in the state using multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and logit regression model were employed for data analysis. The results revealed that community borehole, vendor and pipe borne water were the major sources of water in the study area. Majority of respondents defecate in pit latrine or lagoon and dump their wastes in the surrounding water bodies.  The results further revealed that diarrhoea (71.8%), typhoid fever (67.5%) dysentery (45.3%), and cholera (32.5%) were the common water-borne diseases experienced by the respondents. The result of the logit regression model revealed that age, education, household size, occupation, water treatment, type of toilet facility, toilet sharing, refuse disposal method, environmental sanitation exercise, and using same container for bathing and cooking were major factors influencing the incidence of water-borne diseases in the study area. From the above listed results, it is recommended that people must be properly trained about the consequences of utilising contaminated water, poor sanitation and poor personal hygiene practices on their health in the study area.