Health care, Childcare, Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Provision of safe water, adequate sanitation, and hygiene has been lauded as one way of preventing diarrheal infections and improving health especially in developing countries. However, lack of safe water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices in most parts of rural Kenya have posed a challenge that exposes the populace to diarrhea cases and possible deaths. In this regard, many nongovernmental organizations and governmental agencies have tried to provide water, sanitation, and hygiene services with poor results. This study was conducted using qualitative research methods in Central Nyakach in Kisumu County, Kenya. The methods were focus group discussions (FGD), key informant interviews (KII), and observation of homesteads. The data were then analyzed thematically. Findings revealed that water issues are gendered and its use is socially and culturally categorized. Water storage is affected by traditions such as use of a clay pot, while sanitation and hygiene issues are ritualized and bound by taboos. Latrines are majorly constructed by men and sharing the same with in-laws and older children is prohibited. Children faeces are thrown out in the open fields as a means of disposal and hand washing with soap is nonexistent, since it is believed that doing so would make a person lose the ability to rear livestock. The implications of these findings are that some of these sociocultural practices have a profound effect on health of the population. This affects health care delivery through high incidence rates of disease, encourages “unhealthy” environments through open defecation and pollution, and negates the government’s commitment to national and international policies on universal health care provision.

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Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Service Availability at Rural Health Care Facilities in Southwestern Uganda

Journal of Environmental and Public Health ◽

10.1155/2018/5403795 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Edgar Mugema Mulogo ◽

Micheal Matte ◽

Andrew Wesuta ◽

Fred Bagenda ◽

Richard Apecu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Centre ◽

High Volume ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Hand Washing ◽

Service Availability ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Care Facilities ◽

Improved Sanitation ◽

Southwestern Uganda

There is a paucity of information on the state of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) at health care facilities in Uganda. A survey on WASH service availability was conducted at 50 health care facilities across 4 districts of rural southwestern Uganda between September and November 2015. The main water points at the majority (94%) of the health care facilities were improved sources, while improved toilets were available at 96% of the health care facilities visited. Hospitals had the poorest toilet to patient ratio (1 : 63). Only 38% of the health care facilities had hand washing facilities at the toilets. The lack of hand washing facilities was most prominent at the level IV health centre toilets (71%). Hand washing facilities were available at other points within most (76%) of the health care facilities. However, both water and soap were present at only 24% of these health care facilities. The poor toilet to patient/caregiver ratios particularly in the high volume health care facilities calls for the provision of cheaper options for improved sanitation in these settings. Priority should also be given to the sustainable provision of hygiene amenities such as soap for hand washing particularly the high patient volume health care facilities, in this case the level IV health centres and hospitals.

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Socio-Cultural Barriers of Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Practices in South Punjab Pakistan

Global Social Sciences Review ◽

10.31703/gssr.2020(v-iii).12 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol V (III) ◽

pp. 109-117

Author(s):

Hasan Ghaffoor ◽

Muhammad Farooq ◽

Sadaf Mahmood

Keyword(s):

Cultural Barriers ◽

Special Focus ◽

Interview Schedule ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative ◽

Safe Water ◽

Hygiene Practices ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Quantitative Design ◽

Comprehensive Programs ◽

Cultural Constraints

Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is the basic right of every human being which directly influence health and social outcomes. Without adopting a project to its cultural settings, the project has very little or no chance for success or to be sustainable. The objective of the present study was to examine the socio-cultural barriers towards safe water, sanitation and hygiene practices in southern Punjab, Pakistan. It was a mixed method of research comprising qualitative and quantitative design. The qualitative data was collected through FGDs, and quantitative data was collected through an interview schedule. It was found that Cultural constraints like satisfaction and reliability towards traditional and myth-based norms are hampering the water, sanitation and hygiene practices. It is necessary to start comprehensive programs of WASH sector development with a special focus on social mobilization for the transformation of social norms along with resource allocation to improve WASH conditions/practices.

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PROTOCOL: Evidence and Gap Map Protocol: Interventions promoting safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for households, communities, schools, and health facilities in low‐ and middle‐income countries

Campbell Systematic Reviews ◽

10.1002/cl2.199 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 1-41 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hugh Waddington ◽

Hannah Chirgwin ◽

John Eyers ◽

Yashaswini PrasannaKumar ◽

Duae Zehra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Facilities ◽

Middle Income ◽

Safe Water ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Low And Middle Income

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Assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene in HCFs: which tool to follow?

Reviews on Environmental Health ◽

10.1515/reveh-2019-0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 435-440 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Krupali Patel ◽

Pachillu Kalpana ◽

Poonam Trivedi ◽

Sandul Yasobant ◽

Deepak Saxena

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Subjective Assessment ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Care Services ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Survey Instruments ◽

Microbiological Surveillance

Abstract Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is important to improve and maintain the quality of health care services. Improving and managing WASH services require strong and consistent monitoring mechanisms to measure progress and direct efforts where needs are greatest. Although several tools are available to assess WASH in health care facilities (HCFs), there is always a dilemma among the program managers to select an appropriate tool for the assessment of WASH. Thus, it was aimed to perform a descriptive review of all available WASH assessment tools and assist in reaching a consensus for an optimal tool to assess WASH in HCFs. For this descriptive review, PubMed, ScopeMed and Google Scholar were used to search all available tools for the assessment of WASH. All the tools available online since 1991 till July 2018 were included in the review. Globally, nine different WASH assessment tools were retrieved. The majority of them have their self-limitations on the basis of 11 selected indicators and were examined in all the retrieved tools. There are variability and overlapping components within the specific tools. Very few survey instruments including human resource (HR), supply, budget, patient/staff satisfaction and documentation for appropriateness of WASH were found to be neglected. The majority of instruments were based on the subjective assessment of WASH validating with microbiological surveillance and photo documentation. The descriptive review suggests that various tools are available for the assessment of WASH but none of them seem to be complete with all indicators and to have consensus for the elements. Therefore, there is a need to develop a robust and comprehensive tool for the assessment of WASH in HCFs.

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What it takes to save lives: An assessment of water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities in temporary COVID-19 isolation and treatment centers of Southern Ethiopia: A mixed-methods evaluation

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0256086 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0256086

Author(s):

Aiggan Tamene

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hand Hygiene ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Infection Prevention And Control ◽

Southern Ethiopia ◽

Limited Information ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Care Facilities

Background Quality water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities act as barricades to the transmission of COVID-19 in health care facilities. These facilities ought to also be available, accessible, and functional in temporary treatment centers. Despite numerous studies on health care facilities, however, there is limited information on the status of WASH facilities in such centers. Methods The assessment of health care facilities for the COVID-19 response checklist and key informant interviews, were used for data collection. 35 treatment centers in Southern Ethiopia were surveyed. Eightkey informants were interviewed to gain an understanding of the WASH conditions in the treatment centers. The Quantitative data was entered using EPI-INFO 7 and exported to SPSS 20 for analysis. Results are presented using descriptive statistics. Open Code 4.02 was used for the thematic analysis of the qualitative data. Results Daily water supply interruptions occurred at 27 (77.1%) of the surveyed sites. Only 30 (85.72%) had bathrooms that were segregated for personnel and patients, and only 3 (3.57%) had toilets that were handicapped accessible. 20(57.2%) of the treatment centers did not have a hand hygiene protocol that satisfied WHO guidelines. In terms of infection prevention and control, 16 (45.71%) of the facilities lacked adequate personal protective equipment stocks. Between urban and rural areas, there was also a significant difference in latrine maintenance, hand hygiene protocol design and implementation, and incineration capacity. Conclusion The results reveal crucial deficiencies in the provision of WASH in the temporary COVID-19 treatment centers. Efforts to improve WASH should offer priority to hygiene service interventions to minimize the risk of healthcare-acquired infections. The sustainable provision of hygiene services, such as hand washing soap, should also be given priority.

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Access to Safe Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: A Cross-Sectional Study among the Maasai in Tanzania

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ◽

10.4269/ajtmh.20-0134 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 104 (4) ◽

pp. 1535-1539

Author(s):

Boniphace Jacob ◽

Method Kazaura

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Water Use ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Waterborne Diseases ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Safe Water ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene

ABSTRACTSafe water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) are among key components to prevent and control waterborne diseases such as cholera, schistosomiasis, and other gastrointestinal morbidities in the community. In 2018, there was cholera outbreak in Ngorongoro district that was fueled by inadequate and unsafe water as well as poor sanitation and hygiene. We used an analytical cross-sectional study first to determine the proportion of households with access to WaSH and second to assess factors associated with coverage of household’s access to WaSH. Methods included interviewing heads of the household to assess the availability of safe drinking water, use of unshared toilet/latrine by household members only, and the availability of functional handwashing facility. Eight percent of households had access to WaSH. Access to household’s WaSH was positively associated with household’s monthly income, education of heads of the household, and water use per person per week. To control water-related morbidities, there is a need to improve access to reliable safe drinking water, expand alternatives of households to earn more incomes, and enhance proper sanitation and hygiene services to rural areas and marginalized groups like the Maasai of Ngorongoro in Tanzania.

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Knowledge, Attitude & Practices towards Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Global Social Sciences Review ◽

10.31703/gssr.2021(vi-iv).03 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol VI (IV) ◽

pp. 15-25

Author(s):

Hasan Ghaffoor ◽

Muhammad Farooq ◽

Babak Mahmood

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Treatment Method ◽

Public Health Issue ◽

Mixed Method Research ◽

Domestic Water ◽

Government Action ◽

Safe Water ◽

Sanitation And Hygiene ◽

Access To Water ◽

Development Goals

Affordable and sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is a key public health issue and focus of Sustainable Development Goals. Literature showed that households having prior knowledge and an acceptable attitude towards WASH practices have less number of diseases. The main objective of the study was to explore the level of respondents' knowledge, attitude and practices towards safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Conditions in South Punjab, Pakistan. The study was mixed-method research. SPSS also applied, and results demonstrate that there was very lack of knowledge about safe WASH practices; the majority of respondents have a traditional attitude. Whereas only 27.3% of respondents have always access to safe drinking water, 96% of respondents were not using any domestic water treatment method, 22.9% were defecating in the open, and the percentage of always handwashing with soap was found to only 29.6%. Social Mobilization programs along with government action to ensure safe WASH conditions are recommended.

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