Drinking water and sanitation: household survey for knowledge and practice in rural area, Magudanchavadi, Salem district, India (original) (raw)

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health

Water is the essence of life and basic human right essential to all and for sustainable development. It is known that drinking water is our most precious resource for our economy, our daily lives and to the health of our environment. 1 Sanitation is one of the determinants of quality of life and human development index. It has been both public and private elements, and the individual"s hygiene can affect the whole community. Drinking water and sanitation is a fundamental health service without which there cannot be any improvement. Drinking water and sanitation inadequacies hinder economic and social development, constitute a major hurdle to poverty alleviation and inevitably lead to environmental degradation. 2 The year 2005 marked the beginning of the "International Decade for Action: Water for Life" and renewed effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7, target 10 aims to reduce by half the proportion of the world"s population without sustainable access to drinking ABSTRACT Background: Water is basic human right, most precious resource for economy and health. Sanitation is determinants of quality of life and individual"s hygiene can affect the whole community. Drinking water and sanitation is a fundamental health service. Methods: It is a community based cross sectional study conducted in Rural Health Training centre, Magudanchavadi, the field practice area of Annapoorana Medical College and hospital, Salem, Tamilnadu. Sample size was calculated through the universal formula n = z2pq/d2 and sample size was finalized to 300 houses. Data was compiled in MS Excel and analyzed in institutional SPSS version 16. Results: Out of 300 households adult females were 154 (51.3%), literacy level was till matriculation 160 (53.3%) and families belonged to middle class 154 (51.3%). Households had knowledge of covered drinking water 289 (96.3%), clean drinking water 255 (85%), covered garbage dustbin 185 (61.7%), sanitary toilet 249 (83%) and hand wash after toilet 282 (94%). Households were practiced covered drinking water 284 (94.7%), collected water for drinking purpose from pipeline 256 (85.3%), boiling method used for purification of drinking water 136 (45.3%), uncovered garbage dustbin 162 (54%), garbage found openly in premises 173 (57.3%), toilet facility 188 (62.7%), open air defecation 97 (32.3%) and hand wash after toilet with soap 198 (66%). Their knowledge was significantly associated with practice of it. Conclusions: Knowledge was good enough but unhealthy practices make health education very important for better use of existing facilities and also to prevent the incidences of water and sanitation related diseases.