ASSESSMENT OF WATER ACCESS AND PREVALENCE OF WATERBORNE DISEASES IN RURAL COMMUNITY: A CASE OF ENDEGAGN WOREDA, GURAGE ZONE, SNNPR, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background: Lack of sustainability of water supply and sanitation services are always considered as major issues in developing countries that account for high prevalence of waterborne diseases. Socioeconomic status such as; education, income and occupation are also the bottle-necks in developing countries, like Ethiopia, which might be the other potential influential factors associated with prevalence of waterborne diseases. Objective: This study aims to assess two dependent variables, water access and waterborne diseases in the study area; and to investigate the probable association of water, sanitation and socioeconomic status with waterborne diseases. Method: The associations were established by collecting data via a selfprepared questionnaire in Endegagn Woreda, Gurage Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Data were analyzed by performing Chi-square test of independence, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Result: The prevalence of waterborne diseases was found to be 32% in our study. The multivariate analysis showed that; source of water, water availability, and water smell, were highly associated with risk of waterborne diseases. However, associations could not be established between sanitation and waterborne diseases, may be because sanitation facility is not a problem in the area. The result also showed that 64% of the people do not have basic access to water, with less than 5 liters per person per day. There was also no significant association between socio-economic status and diarrheal diseases. Source of water, tap water use, water availability, water smell, and water treatment mechanisms were associated factors for suffering diarrheal episodes, in the Chi-square test of independence analysis. Conclusion: Despite accessibility to sanitation facilities, waterborne/diarrheal diseases are prevalent in the study area, the most prevalent being typhoid, giardia and ameba. The study also finds out that, the majority of people had no basic access to water, most travel for an average of about a kilometer and spent an hour to fetch potable water. Since majority of the people used rivers for drinking and other domestic purposes, there should be assessment of availability of vectors, like infected snails, that transmit schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) to humans, which is a neglected disease of the tropics that stays unrecognized in the body. If untreated, it often results in death.