Progress of water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities in public primary schools of south Gondar zone, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: School water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives are the first steps towards improving health, education outcomes, and gender parity. Sustainable development goals (goal 6: ´water and sanitation for all by 2030´) and specifically goals 6.1 and 6.2 focus on drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene. This study evaluated the progress of the water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in public primary schools. METHODS: a school-based cross-sectional survey was used, and primary data were collected by questionnaires through a face-to-face interview with school principals. Data input and cleanup were performed using EPI INFO (version 3.1), and statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS (version 23). Dependent variables were measured according to the indicators of the sustainable development goals such as basic, limited, and no services. The Chi-squared test was used to investigate the relationship of categorical outcome variables and a P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant and a 95% confidence interval was considered. RESULTS: Urban (68.8%) and rural (51.4%) public primary schools had access to drinking water through basic services, while 26% of rural public primary schools do not have drinking water sources. Regarding the ladder of services for sanitation in public primary schools, urban (66.7%) and rural (42.3%) had access to basic sanitation services, and 57.7% of rural public primary schools do not have sanitation services. The handwashing facilities in these schools were very low in both urban (35.4%) and rural (3.6%). Only urban public primary schools (8.3%) provide soap and water at handwashing stations. The solid waste disposal methods in public primary school methods consists mainly of burning (71.3%), followed by disposal (25%). CONCLUSIONS: the public primary schools were far from the way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Half of rural public primary school PPSs had limited or no services. More than half of rural were accessed with no sanitation services. The proportion of handwashing facilities in public primary schools was very low. Even though there were better water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities among urban public primary schools compared with rural, strong emphasis should be given for both school managements in the remaining time.