KNOWLEDGE OF SANITATION AND HYGIENE OF RESIDENTS IN EKU COMMUNITY OF DELTA STATE
Abstract
Environmental sanitation is a fundamental process that is a key public health intervention which is essential for social, economic and overall health development of communities. Man's activities on the environment has tended to degrade and make the environment untidy and unfit for human habitation because of its poor sanitation nature. The campaign for improved sanitation is increasingly threatened as people’s attitudes seem not to promote proper sanitation practices. It was against this background that the study aimed at assessing the Knowledge of Sanitation and Hygiene of residents in Eku Community in Delta State. The study employed the Descriptive Non-Experimental Research Design with a sample of 100 respondents drawn from four major streets in Eku. The sampling technique used for this study was the Convenient Sampling Technique, and the instrument for data collection was a Self-structured questionnaire. Findings of the study revealed that despite high awareness about environmental sanitation (95.0%) reported among the respondents, proportion of them with good knowledge about environmental sanitation (22.9%), attitude (38.6%) and practice (20.8%) towards environmental sanitation was low, with a majority of the respondents (80.0%), not separating their waste before disposal. The most common solid waste component generated was organic/perishable materials (74.8%) and the commonest disposal practice reported was open dumping (49.8%). Major findings of the study leads to a conclusion that even though the people of Eku community reported a high knowledge about environmental sanitation and hygiene, there was a clear gap between knowledge and actual practice of sanitation and hygiene in the community. Hence, it was recommended that the community leadership in liaison with other health facilities in the community carry out sensitization campaigns on the dangers of keeping unhygienic environments and an enforcement of fines for those caught wanting in community.
Key Words: Knowledge, Sanitation, Hygiene, Community, Environmental Sanitation
Full-Text Access Notice
In accordance with the NERD Policy on promoting peer-reviewed publication, public access to the full text of a project, thesis or dissertation is restricted for three years, allowing the author and supervisors sufficient time to pursue peer-reviewed publication.
During this period, researchers with legitimate academic or research purposes may request authorisation directly from the author to enable NERD to release the indexed full texts of the work using the form below.