IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i11p2052-d238582.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing Students’ Knowledge on WASH-Related Diseases

Author

Listed:
  • Khaldoon A. Mourad

    (Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden)

  • Vincent Habumugisha

    (Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences Including Climate Change, B.P. 119 Pôle Chetouane, Tlemcen 13000, Algeria)

  • Bolaji F. Sule

    (Department of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, University of Ilorin, P.M.B 1515, Ilorin 240003, Nigeria)

Abstract

Water-, sanitation-, and hygiene-related diseases are killing many people each year in developing countries, including Rwanda, and children under the age of five are the most vulnerable. This research assessed human waste disposal practices, knowledge on diseases caused by contact with human faeces, and knowledge on causes and prevention of selected WASH-related diseases. One thousand one hundred and seventy-three students were interviewed out of 2900 students. The results showed, regarding students’ waste disposal practices, that 96.3% use latrines, 20.5% practice open defecation in bushes, and 3.2% defecate in water bodies. Regarding knowledge on diseases caused by contact with human faeces, 56.9% responded that they were aware of cholera, 26.5% of diarrhoea, 2.2% of dysentery, 0.3% of malaria, 0.1% of shigellosis, and 3.8% of typhoid. The majority of the respondents, between 50–99%, could not identify the main causes of the WASH-related diseases. This paper also showed that students lack health knowledge in regard to WASH-related diseases’ causes and prevention. Therefore, the provision of water and sanitation infrastructures should go with the provision of health education on how to avoid these diseases and possible ways to improve the well-being of the students both at home and in their various schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Khaldoon A. Mourad & Vincent Habumugisha & Bolaji F. Sule, 2019. "Assessing Students’ Knowledge on WASH-Related Diseases," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-8, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:2052-:d:238582
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/2052/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/2052/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesco Di Gennaro & Claudia Marotta & Damiano Pizzol & Kajal Chhaganlal & Laura Monno & Giovanni Putoto & Annalisa Saracino & Alessandra Casuccio & Walter Mazzucco, 2018. "Prevalence and Predictors of Malaria in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infected Patients in Beira, Mozambique," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-8, September.
    2. Aime Tsinda & Pamela Abbott & Steve Pedley & Katrina Charles & Jane Adogo & Kenan Okurut & Jonathan Chenoweth, 2013. "Challenges to Achieving Sustainable Sanitation in Informal Settlements of Kigali, Rwanda," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-16, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Damiano Pizzol & Mike Trott & Igor Grabovac & Mario Antunes & Anna Claudia Colangelo & Simona Ippoliti & Cristian Petre Ilie & Anne Carrie & Nicola Veronese & Lee Smith, 2021. "Laparoscopy in Low-Income Countries: 10-Year Experience and Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, May.
    2. Jedidiah S. Snyder & Graeme Prentice-Mott & Charles Boera & Alex Mwaki & Kelly T. Alexander & Matthew C. Freeman, 2020. "The Sustainability and Scalability of Private Sector Sanitation Delivery in Urban Informal Settlement Schools: A Mixed Methods Follow Up of a Randomized Trial in Nairobi, Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Sheillah Simiyu & Mark Swilling & Richard Rheingans & Sandy Cairncross, 2017. "Estimating the Cost and Payment for Sanitation in the Informal Settlements of Kisumu, Kenya: A Cross Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Paschal A. Apanga & Joshua V. Garn & Zoe Sakas & Matthew C. Freeman, 2020. "Assessing the Impact and Equity of an Integrated Rural Sanitation Approach: A Longitudinal Evaluation in 11 Sub-Saharan Africa and Asian Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Zachary Burt & Rachel Sklar & Ashley Murray, 2019. "Costs and Willingness to Pay for Pit Latrine Emptying Services in Kigali, Rwanda," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Oyesomo, Oyewole Clement & Odunnaike Joseph Seun & Akinbola Kazeem Bolayemi, PhD., 2023. "Housing Affordability in Nigeria; an Analysis of Lagos State Government Rent to Own Scheme," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(9), pages 272-289, September.
    7. Julia Dickson-Gomez & Agnes Nyabigambo & Abigail Rudd & Julius Ssentongo & Arthur Kiconco & Roy William Mayega, 2023. "Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Challenges in Informal Settlements in Kampala, Uganda: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-13, June.
    8. Kate Bohnert & Anna N. Chard & Alex Mwaki & Amy E. Kirby & Richard Muga & Corey L. Nagel & Evan A. Thomas & Matthew C. Freeman, 2016. "Comparing Sanitation Delivery Modalities in Urban Informal Settlement Schools: A Randomized Trial in Nairobi, Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-14, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:2052-:d:238582. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.