Factors Associated With The Prevalence Of Water Borne Diseases Amongst Community Members In Masajja B Village, Makindye Division, Kampala District

Abstract

Background: Waterborne diseases are caused by drinking contaminated or dirty water. Contaminated water can cause many types of diarrheal diseases, including Cholera, and other serious illnesses such as Guinea worm disease, Typhoid, and Dysentery. Water related diseases cause 3.4 million deaths each year. Waterborne diarrheal diseases, for example, are responsible for 2 million deaths each year, with the majority occurring in children under 5.

Objective: The purpose of study was to determine the factors associated with the prevalence of water borne diseases amongst community members in Masajja B Village, Makindye Division, Kampala District in May 2018

Methods: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive in nature among 384 among the community members who selected using convenience sampling, data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.

Results: From the data analyzed, the prevalence of water borne diseases was 57.8%. Socio-demographic factors that were associated with water borne diseases were marital status (χ 2 =11.212, P-value=0.011), education level (χ 2 =16.057, P-value=0.001), employment status (χ 2 =22.951, P value=0.000). The individual factors that were associated with water borne diseases were if they have ever heard of the term water borne disease (χ 2 =14.527, P-value=0.000), knowledge on the type of water that causes water borne disease (χ 2 =43.348, P-value=0.000). The environmental factors that were significantly associated with water borne diseases were hand washing (χ 2 =56.119, P value=0.000),Water purification methods (χ 2 =9.111, P- value=0.028), type of toilet (χ 2 =64.040, P value=0.000), distance of toilet from the household (χ 2 =4.368, P-value=0.024), distance of toilet from the water source (χ 2 =10227, P- value=0.001).

Conclusions: In conclusion, this study revealed that the prevalence of water borne disease was moderate and factors such as marital status, education level, employment status, knowledge on water borne disease and safe drinking water, water purification methods, type of toilet and distance to the toilet were associated with water borne disease.

Recommendations: Therefore the study recommends that long term measures that the government should consider include promotion of fully functional families, improvement in socioeconomic status as well improving knowledge on water borne and safe water plus sanitation with appropriate environmental designs.