Abstract
People living in fishing communities have a high burden of preventable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) related diseases but have often been neglected in research and policy. We explored practices and perspectives on WASH among fishing villages around Lake Malombe, Malawi. We employed a mixed methods design, and data were initially collected through participant observations (five weeks), followed by a second phase of qualitative interviews (n = 16), focus group discussions (n = 7), and quantitative surveys (n = 242). We observed that safe water sources were scarce; latrines were basic; and handwashing facilities were limited. Seventy-one percent (n = 174) of households collected water from unsafe sources (open wells and the lake). Eighty-six percent (n = 207) of households had basic short-term latrines. Twenty-four percent (n = 59) of households had handwashing facilities with soap. Qualitative data supported these observations and identified additional factors which compounded poor WASH practices including, a high transient population associated with the fishing trade, poor infrastructure design and construction which lacked consideration of the environmental factors, context and social and cultural norms. As such, fishing communities are underserved and marginalised with constrained access to WASH services, which must be addressed through behaviour-centered and context appropriate solutions.
Highlights
Despite an estimated 107 million people living around the African Great Lakes [1], there is a paucity of health related research and interventions in fishing communities
The smaller proportion involved in the fish industry could be attributed to a shift in livelihoods due to declining fish stocks, and is indicative of fishing being the primary livelihood of transient rather than permanent populations
“basic” drinking water services [22]. These findings underline the great number of people without “basic” access to safe water in this fishing community; and inadvertently the community is exposed to unsafe water which potentially leads to transmission of pathogens
Summary
Despite an estimated 107 million people living around the African Great Lakes [1], there is a paucity of health related research and interventions in fishing communities. Their neglect is often attributed to the fact that they can be geographically remote [1,2]. Research has shown that communities close to water bodies are at risk of multiple infectious diseases as a result of water interactions, including water-borne and water-related diseases, and neglected tropical diseases (human schistosomiasis and soil transmitted helminths) They have been identified as being more vulnerable to HIV and AIDS than the general population [5]. Public Health 2020, 17, 6703; doi:10.3390/ijerph17186703 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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