The relationship between sanitation, hygiene and household sociocultural-demographic factors: a case study of Bogoso in the Wassa West District

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Date
2010
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Abstract
Clean water and adequate sanitation are vital in the fight against the incidence of diseases in rural communities. Mining companies and other NGOs sponsor improved water and sanitation projects in attempts to curb the occurrence of disease in the Wassa West District. However, the prevalence of diseases like malaria and infant diarrhoea is still high. This thesis examines the effects of sociocultural and demographic factors on household sanitation conditions, identifies the presence of common bacteria in household drinking water and investigates the prevalence of diarrhoea among infants in the Wassa West District. It is based on structured interviews of 120 household heads and 77 caretakers of infants, spot observation of clues that indicate household sanitation practice as well as laboratory analysis of 125 household stored drinking water samples from communities in the Wassa West District of Ghana. The study showed that diarrhoea among infants was highly prevalent and its occurrence had no relationship with the education level of the child caretaker. Furthermore, the sanitation condition of households improved with high educational attainment and ageing household heads. On the contrary, sanitation deteriorated with overcrowding in the households. Also, the sanitation conditions of households depended on the religion of the head. Water quality analysis, indicated that the majority (66.7%) of stored drinking water of households tested positive for total coliform bacteria and also Escherichia coli was detected in 3 samples. In conclusion, rapid water and sanitation infrastructural development without both formal and behavioural change education policies integrated proportionally may not attain the desired results. Such education programmes must target young heads of household, households with large family size and households whose heads are Christians and Moslems. Also, social learning capacity must be strengthened at the household level to promote good sanitation practice.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Materials Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Resources Management
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