Health Practices in Ethiopian Pre-Urban Communities

Abstract

A study of the health practices of the residents of a number of rural communities in Ethiopia was undertaken prior to the planned introduction of rural health centers into 4 of the communities. The objective of the current study was to establish benchmarks which would be useful in future quantitative assessments of the effectiveness of the heath centers in improving health practices. Data were collected both by ethnographic observation and household surveys. Three variables considered as potential sources for measuring future changes were 1) the use of drinking water sources 2) the degree to which inhabitants used soap and 3) hand washing practices. In regard to the 1st variable the purity of the water sources could be determined fairly accurately and the respondents were receptive toward questions concerning their sources of drinking water; however since most of the water sources in the area were unsafe the value of this variable as a possible measure of sanitation changes stemming from the educational impact of the health center will depend on the degree to which better sources of drinking water are made available to the villagers. Responses to the questions related to the use of soap were somewhat unreliable and those related to hand washing were highly unreliable; therefore their use in assessing quantitative changes in health practices will be of limited value. The reliability of the survey data was suspect due to the sensitive nature of some of the questions the tendency on the part of the respondents to give polite answers and variation in responses when questions were phrased differently. Ethnographic observations were helpful in assessing the reliability of the questionaire responses. Tables include 1) safety assessments of the water for each community and 2) the number and % of respondents in each community by soap using habits by hand washing habits and by handwashing habits when the questions were rephrased.