Determinants of the avoidance behaviour of households to cope with unsafe drinking water: case study of Douala and Yaoundé in Cameroon

Abstract

Despite the effectiveness of home water treatment methods, this practice is not yet widespread in many countries, including Cameroon. This study analyses the determinants of the avoidance behaviour of households to cope with unsafe drinking water in the cities of Douala and Yaounde in Cameroon. The study is based on primary data collected in 2013 from a sample of 789 households in the two cities. The nested logit model is used for empirical analysis. The main findings of the estimated models are as follows: the decision to improve water quality decreases when the head of the household is a man and when there is no child in the household. Furthermore, it decreases when wealth and the level of education are low. In addition, the probability of using a given avoidance method decreases with its cost of adoption and increases with its perceived efficiency (that is, the favourable opinion on the quality of water after treatment). The implications for public policies are discussed in this paper.