Abstract

Background: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is a group of interrelated public health issues that are of particular interest to international development programs. The inhabitant of Bamusso Sub-Division faces a lot of difficulty with respect to safe potable and drinking water and sanitation conditions due to lack of toilets, pipe borne water, boreholes, and springs, and other financial constraints to provide basic hygiene commodities.

Objective: The objective of this study is to access the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Condition and its relationship to Health problems faced amongst the inhabitants of the Bamusso Sub- Division, South West Region Cameroon.

Methods: A multi-stage sampling technique was used and one individual from a households, each having at least one child below the age of 5years were recruited among different villages in Bamusso Sub-Division.

Results: A total of 306 Household participated in our study, with most having more than one source of water but 99.7% of them reported the usage of well as their source of water for both cooking and drinking. A smaller proportion (22.2%) of the participants reported that they treat their water before usage and most (56.1%) of those who treat their water before usage do this only once yearly. As a challenge, 43.8% of household participants say they live in swampy environment and experience floods during rain and all (100%) participants said they experience mosquito’s bites and mostly only at night.  For associated variables, participants cholera status was found to be dependent on the type of toilet the participants own (P-value=0.026), defecation in seas (P-value=0.046, disposure of Household waste in bush (P-value=0.014) and burning of household waste (P-value=0.033) while defecation in sea was found to be associated (P-value= 0.028) with participants in the development of Typhoid disease.

Conclusion: Water sanitation and Hygiene remains an important aspect in Public health and the Population of Bamusso faces a lot of Challenges with respect to quality water sources for both domestic and sanitary uses and as a result, they are prone to many water related, water associated and water borne diseases while copping with local strategies.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is a group of interrelated public health issues that are of particular interest to international development programs. Access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and proper hygiene can reduce illness and death. Epidemics such as outbreak of cholera are often associated with bacteriological pollution of water.  The number of affected people can be reduced using purification method and good sanitation habit [5].

Safe water, sanitation and hygiene (collectively known as WASH) are crucial for human health and well-being. Yet, millions of people globally lack adequate WASH services and consequently suffer from or are exposed to a multitude of preventable illnesses. Lack of safe WASH negatively impacts quality of life and undermines fundamental human rights. Poor WASH services also weaken health systems, threatens health security and place a heavy strain on economics [6].

Safe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene are crucial to human health and well-being. And it is not only a prerequisite to health, but contributes to livelihoods, school attendance and dignity and helps to create resilient communities living in healthy environments. reducing environmental contamination through WASH might be key to tackling the persistent challenge of childhood stunting [7].

Drinking unsafe water impairs health through illnesses such as diarrhoea, and untreated excreta contaminates groundwater and surface waters used for drinking-water, irrigation, bathing and household purposes causing detrimental health problems[8].

Safe and sufficient WASH plays a key role in preventing numerous NTDs such as trachoma, soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis. Diarrhoeal deaths as a result of inadequate WASH were reduced by half during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) period (1990–2015), with the significant progress on water and sanitation provision playing a key role [9].

Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene account for a large part of the burden of illness and death in developing countries: Approximately 4 billion cases of diarrhoea per year cause 2.2 million deaths, most-1.7 million-children under the age of five, about 15% of all under 5 deaths in developing countries. Diarrheal diseases account for 4.3% of the total global disease burden (62.5 million DALYs). An estimated 88% of this burden is attributable to unsafe drinking water supply, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. These risk factors are second, after malnutrition, in contributing to the global burden of disease [10].

It is reported that 115 people in Africa die every hour from diseases linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and contaminated water[11].

Cholera in Cameroon was first reported in 1971. Since 1990, there have been large outbreaks in 1991, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2010 and 2011. Between 2004 and 2013, epidemiological surveillance reported 46,172 cases with 1,817 fatalities, a high CFR ≈ 3.9%.

Main outbreaks were reported in the north in Far North and North regions and in the south of the country in the littoral region which hosts the economic capital Douala.

The country is affected by cross-border outbreaks, especially along its borders with Chad and Nigeria [12].

Improved hygiene (hand washing) and sanitation (latrines) have more impact than drinking water quality on health outcomes, specifically reductions in diarrhoea, parasitic infections, morbidity and mortality, and increases in child growth [13]. Most endemic diarrhoea is not water-borne, but transmitted from person to person by poor hygiene practices, so an increase in the quantity of water has a greater health impact than improved water quality because it makes it possible (or at least more feasible) for people to adopt safe hygiene behaviours [14].

1.2. Problem Statement

About 58% of inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa, including Cameroon, have no access to potable water. The water sector in Cameroon has undergone restructuring in the wake of public-sector reforms and privatization. It is framed within the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing by half the proportion of people without access to portable water by 2015 and on the neoliberal argument for the privatization of public goods [15].

Just like in the Bakassi peninsular of Cameroon, the inhabitant of Bamusso Sub-Division faces a lot of difficulty with respect to safe potable and drinking water. Due to the lack of toilets, wells, boreholes, taps and springs, the population of Bamusso and its environs are solely dependent on rain water, as the main source of potable water for consummation with the mercy of seasonal changes during the rainy season; meanwhile, this water is kept in drums gallons and jars and consumed throughout the dry season when there is little or no rain at all.

Although some Institutional bodies and the government have done so much to combat the water situation in this Sub-Division, the population still faces a lot of WASH-related diseases and risks which include infections transmitted by the faecal–oral route, health impacts from exposures to chemicals and other contaminants in drinking water, as well as impacts on well-being. WASH-related diseases and risks can be exacerbated by a number of factors including climate change, population growth, and rapid urbanization or, in the case of antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic use.

1.3. Research Questions

1. What are the main sources of water in Bamusso Sub-Division.?
2. Are there any challenges to having access to safe water, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene in Bamusso Sub-Division?
3. What are the different health conditions associated with unsafe water, poor hygiene and inadequate sanitation faced by the inhabitants of Bamusso?
4. Is there any relationships between methods of waste disposal and most challenging health problem amongst the inhabitants within the Bamusso Sub-Division?

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