Prevalence and Awareness of Health Implications of Open Air Defecation in Yenagoa Metropolis, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Identifying the factors responsible for open air defecation practices in a location are basic pre-requisites for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal for ending open defecation. This study was undertaken to access the prevalence and socioeconomic determinant of open air defecation in Yenegoa metropolis during August, 2019 to November, 2019. Eleven communities in 150 households were mapped and identified. A minimum of 10 households from each community were randomly selected for the study. The history of open air defecation in the selected communities was asses using structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contains information on the personal characteristics, awareness and practices and implication of open air defecation. One hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires were distributed and retrieved. Fifty-three percent (53%) of the respondents were male while 47% were female. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. From the result, the prevalence of open air defecation was 18.7%. Percentages of those that own a building and those that lived in rented apartment were 60% and 40% respectively. Thirty six point six percent of the respondents in a rented apartment had no toilet facility, 10% lacked funds to own a toilet facility, 6% of the respondents lacked adequate space to erect a good toilet, 3.3% was not interested in the general toilet while 23.3% had no definite reasons. The awareness on the health implications of open air defecation was low. All respondents accepted to have suffered from one kind of infections or the other. More respondents (20%) have had diarrhea, 18% have suffered from toilet infections while 15.3%, 13.3%, and 12% of the respondents have suffered from Typhoid, dysentery, and worm infection respectively.