Journal des maladies tropicales et de la santé publique

Abstrait

Sanitation and Hygiene among Nursing Mothers in Igbo Imabanna of Cross River State, Nigeria: Community Sensitization and Survey

Emmanuel Ude Bassey*, Akpan Emmanuel Ifiok, Martina Yankee Eteng, Akeni Sunday Ogbara

The community sensitization and survey were conducted on sanitation and hygiene among nursing mothers. The study focused on how Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) prevent hygiene-related diseases in Igbo Imabana of Cross river state. The study anchored on the nightingale environmental theory in explaining the relative concept. The respondents were sensitized on WASH and the imperatives to a healthy living and the need for proper waste management. The survey research design was further adopted and the questionnaire instrument was used to gather responses from 210 nursing mothers out of the 500 estimated nursing mothers in the 7 wards of Igbo Imabana. Descriptive statistics showing frequencies and simple percentages were used to analyse the data. The findings of the study showed that nursing mothers in Igbo Imabana have above-average knowledge of what water, sanitation and hygiene imply. The finding also showed that nursing mothers agreed to the practices of sorting out refuge into strata to prevent littering and fly breeding. Though the practice is not pronounced in the community, above-average nursing mothers agree to bury waste as a healthier option while in practice they have resulted in dumbing waste in compounds and gutters for convenience and the assertion that modern waste bin is expensive and the outcome of rain will wash off the refuge. Though this has been the practice, the nursing mothers agreed to the fact that rain washes the germs from the refuges to the streams further causing sicknesses like typhoid, hepatitis, poliomyelitis cholera. The study thus recommends that Government should establish educational units in clinics and Hospitals, especially in rural areas, in other to promote personal hygiene among nursing mothers which will reduce the high rate of morbidity and mortality among mothers and children. Both environmental and health care personnel should work hand in hand in other to promote good hygiene in the community and among individuals. Government should not leave sensitization in the hands of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) alone; they should also help in creating more awareness in the rural communities for the benefit of nursing mothers.