Exploratory Study of Enviromental Health factors Associtaed With the Prevalence of Diarrhoea Diseases in Mtendere Township-Lusaka District 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.