IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i6p3507-d772364.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevalence and Correlates of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and Spatial Distribution of Unimproved WASH in Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Shalik Ram Dhital

    (Centre for Women’s Health Research, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
    National Health Education, Information and Communication Centre, Ministry of Health, and Population, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal)

  • Catherine Chojenta

    (Centre for Women’s Health Research, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia)

  • Tiffany-Jane Evans

    (Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW 2308, Australia)

  • Tri Dev Acharya

    (Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA)

  • Deborah Loxton

    (Centre for Women’s Health Research, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia)

Abstract

This study aims to estimate the prevalence and correlation of household levels of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), including the identification of areas where WASH facilities are unimproved in Nepal. The study population was 11,040 household heads, using the data collected in the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016. Logistic regression analysis was performed and crude odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using a 0.05 significance level are presented. Getis–Ord Gi* statistics were used to identify the hot and cold spot areas of unimproved WASH. GPS locations of WASH points were used for spatial analysis. Approximately 95% of households had an improved water source, 84% had improved sanitation facilities, 81% had a fixed place for handwashing, and 47% had soap and water. Education, wealth, and ecology were significantly associated with WASH. The people from the hills were less likely to have an improved water source (OR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.16–0.64) than those from the plain. Households with a poor wealth index had 78% lower odds of having an improved water source compared to households with a rich wealth index. Respondents from Madhes Province had lower odds (OR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.08–0.28) and Gandaki Pradesh had the highest odds (OR = 2.92; 95% CI: 1.52–5.61) of having improved sanitation facilities compared to Province 1. Respondents aged 35–44 years had higher odds (OR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.04–1.29) of having soap and water available compared to those aged 45 years and older. Education and geographical disparities were the factors associated with having reduced access to WASH. These findings suggest the need to focus on advocacy, services, and policy approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Shalik Ram Dhital & Catherine Chojenta & Tiffany-Jane Evans & Tri Dev Acharya & Deborah Loxton, 2022. "Prevalence and Correlates of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and Spatial Distribution of Unimproved WASH in Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3507-:d:772364
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3507/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3507/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nidhi Wali & Nichole Georgeou & Olivia Simmons & Madhu Sudan Gautam & Supriya Gurung, 2020. "Women and WASH in Nepal: a scoping review of existing literature," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 222-245, April.
    2. Naseeha Islam & Pramesh Koju & Reetu Manandhar & Sudip Shrestha & Charlotte Smith, 2020. "Assessing the Impacts of Relative Wealth and Geospatial Factors on Water Access in Rural Nepal: A Community Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Chao Wang & Jing Pan & Sanni Yaya & Ram Bilash Yadav & Dechao Yao, 2019. "Geographic Inequalities in Accessing Improved Water and Sanitation Facilities in Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Sangita Vyas & Dean Spears, 2018. "Sanitation and Religion in South Asia: What Accounts for Differences across Countries?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(11), pages 2119-2135, November.
    5. Guy Hutton & Claire Chase, 2016. "The Knowledge Base for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Targets on Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-35, May.
    6. Stefanie Schwemlein & Ryan Cronk & Jamie Bartram, 2016. "Indicators for Monitoring Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: A Systematic Review of Indicator Selection Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Jamie Bartram & Sandy Cairncross, 2010. "Hygiene, Sanitation, and Water: Forgotten Foundations of Health," Working Papers id:3325, eSocialSciences.
    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. Simon Meunier & Dale T. Manning & Loic Queval & Judith A. Cherni & Philippe Dessante & Daniel Zimmerle, 2019. "Determinants of the marginal willingness to pay for improved domestic water and irrigation in partially electrified Rwandan villages," Post-Print hal-02179229, HAL.
    2. Saraswat, Deepak, 2024. "Gender composition of children and sanitation behavior in India," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Durrans, Sophie & Last, Anna & Boiro, Hamadou & Goncalves, Adriana & Mabey, David & Greenland, Katie, 2019. "“Moving like birds”: A qualitative study of population mobility and health implications in the Bijagós Islands, Guinea Bissau," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 204-213.
    4. Marieke J. Oskam & Milena Pavlova & Charles Hongoro & Wim Groot, 2021. "Socio-Economic Inequalities in Access to Drinking Water among Inhabitants of Informal Settlements in South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Sifat Rabbi & Nepal C Dey, 2013. "Exploring the gap between hand washing knowledge and practices in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional comparative study," Working Papers id:5257, eSocialSciences.
    6. Mallick, Rahul & Mandal, Salim & Chouhan, Pradip, 2020. "Impact of sanitation and clean drinking water on the prevalence of diarrhea among the under-five children in India," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    7. Tracy Morse & Kondwani Chidziwisano & Elizabeth Tilley & Rossanie Malolo & Save Kumwenda & Janelisa Musaya & Sandy Cairncross, 2019. "Developing a Contextually Appropriate Integrated Hygiene Intervention to Achieve Sustained Reductions in Diarrheal Diseases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Darcy M. Anderson & Ryan Cronk & Donald Fejfar & Emily Pak & Michelle Cawley & Jamie Bartram, 2021. "Safe Healthcare Facilities: A Systematic Review on the Costs of Establishing and Maintaining Environmental Health in Facilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-22, January.
    9. YuJung Julia Lee & Tiffany Radcliff, 2021. "Community interactions and sanitation use by the urban poor: Survey evidence from India’s slums," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 715-732, March.
    10. Mirko S. Winkler & Samuel Fuhrimann & Phuc Pham-Duc & Guéladio Cissé & Jürg Utzinger & Hung Nguyen-Viet, 2017. "Assessing potential health impacts of waste recovery and reuse business models in Hanoi, Vietnam," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(1), pages 7-16, February.
    11. McMichael, Celia & Robinson, Priscilla, 2016. "Drivers of sustained hygiene behaviour change: A case study from mid-western Nepal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 28-36.
    12. Seungman Cha & Sunghoon Jung & Dawit Belew Bizuneh & Tadesse Abera & Young-Ah Doh & Jieun Seong & Ian Ross, 2020. "Benefits and Costs of a Community-Led Total Sanitation Intervention in Rural Ethiopia—A Trial-Based Ex Post Economic Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-21, July.
    13. Joseph Kangmennaang & Elijah Bisung & Susan J. Elliott, 2020. "‘We Are Drinking Diseases’: Perception of Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress in Urban Slums in Accra, Ghana," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Richard Filčák & Daniel Škobla, 2021. "Sanitation Infrastructure at the Systemic Edge: Segregated Roma Settlements and Multiple Health Risks in Slovakia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, June.
    15. D'Haene, E. & Desiere, S. & D'Haese, M. & Verbeke, W. & Schoors, K., 2018. "Religion, food choices, and demand seasonality: Evidence from the Ethiopian milk market," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276029, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Parfait K. Kouamé & Kouassi Dongo & Hung Nguyen-Viet & Christian Zurbrügg & Christoph Lüthi & Jan Hattendorf & Jürg Utzinger & Jean Biémi & Bassirou Bonfoh, 2014. "Ecohealth Approach to Urban Waste Management: Exposure to Environmental Pollutants and Health Risks in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    17. Eline D'Haene & Juan Tur Cardona & Stijn Speelman & Koen Schoors & Marijke D'Haese, 2021. "Unraveling preferences for religious ties in food transactions: A consumer perspective," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(4), pages 701-716, July.
    18. Weiyu Yu & Nicola A Wardrop & Robert E S Bain & Victor Alegana & Laura J Graham & Jim A Wright, 2019. "Mapping access to domestic water supplies from incomplete data in developing countries: An illustrative assessment for Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, May.
    19. Darcy M. Anderson & Ryan Cronk & Lucy Best & Mark Radin & Hayley Schram & J. Wren Tracy & Jamie Bartram, 2020. "Budgeting for Environmental Health Services in Healthcare Facilities: A Ten-Step Model for Planning and Costing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-22, March.
    20. Xiaomei Wang & Lin Zhang & Xiaoyu Jiang & Jia Wang, 2021. "Promoting Water Conservation Based on the Matching Effect of Regulatory Focus and Emotion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.

    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:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3507-:d:772364. 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.