Exploratory Study of Enviromental Health factors Associtaed With the Prevalence of Diarrhoea Diseases in Mtendere Township-Lusaka District Zambia
Date
2016
Authors
Kabinga, Florence Muleka
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
Diarrhoea remains one of the diseases affecting children. The major transmission routes are
inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. Diarrheal diseases such as cholera and typhoid
continued to be a public health problem and costs Zambia close to 946 billion Kwacha ($194
Million) due to poor sanitation.
Efforts made to increase coverage in water supply, sanitation and hygiene education have not
reduced diarrheal diseases. The objective of this study was to establish environmental health
factors associated with the prevalence of diarrhea diseases in Mtendere Township.
An analytical community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 274 randomly
selected household with a child aged between 6-59 months old and having lived in the area for
more than six months. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected for this study. A
questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion Guide, observations and water sampling form were used
to collect data. The dependable variable was diarrhea prevalence and the independent variables
were sanitation, water storage, water quality, hand washing, residence, and knowledge on
diarrhea.
Logistic regression was used to adjust odds ratios at 95% confidence interval. The prevalence of
diarrhea among under five years of age in the study period was 37%. The most affected children
were those between 12 to 24 months old. Drinking water was found to be more contaminated at
household level than at the sources of water supply. The major factors associated with diarrhea
are inadequate water, washinghands without soap, poverty and poor water storage. Therefore,
this calls for concerted efforts by stakeholders to focus on supplying adequate safe water, water
storage, hygiene and community development to reduce poverty at household level in order to
reduce the problem of diarrhoea in Mtendere.
Description
Master of Public Health
Keywords
Public Health--methods , Preventive Medicine--methods