Hygienic behaviour and environmental conditions in Jimma Town, South-western Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in April 1997 to determine hygienic behaviour and practices among the inhabitants of Jimma Town, South-western Ethiopia. From the three Weredas of Jimma Town, a systematic sampling technique was employed to select a total of 278 households for the study. Of these 123 households were selected on the basis of set criterion for more in-depth observation on their hygienic behaviour. The result shows that 53.2% of the respondents own houses while the rest live in a rented house or live with other people. It was found that within the household, people complain of vermin. Specific complaints show that, 77.8% complain of rats, 67.5% of fleas, 56.5% of mosquitos, 50.2% of flies, and 42.4% of bedbugs. The majority of respondents (97.8%) believe in the importance of latrines, and a substantial number of them (71.9%) have got latrines. However, it was observed that, of those who have got latrines, 21.5% were found to be either unsanitary or partially non-functional. Observation data has shown that even those who get it from safe source get it contaminated in the house. As concerns energy use, it was found out that most people use unprocessed energy source such as wood (96.3%), charcoal (54.4%), leaves (33.8), and dung-cake (11.8%) in the household. The result in general shows that the hygienic and sanitary practices and behaviours are unhealthy, based on standard hygiene and sanitary parameters. Most parameters have positive correlation with income and education, which may take some time to change so that a concerted effort needs to be made to educate the public on personal and group hygiene and sanitation. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1999;13(2):77-86]