THE CAUSES, EFFECTS, AND DISEASE BURDEN ATTRIBUTABLE TO WATER QUALITY AND SANITATION CONDITIONS IN THE KASSENA NANKANA MUNICIPALITY, GHANA

Abstract

The goal of this study was to assess water- and sanitation-related diseases in the Kassena Nankana municipality using surveys and laboratory analyses. A total of 152 heads of households were contacted for both quantitative and qualitative research analysis. The study showed that the causes of water and sanitation diseases in the municipality were open defecation, 78 (51%); indiscriminate solid waste disposal, 31 (20%); closeness of households to refuse dumps (within 50 meters [m]), 89 (59%), and lack of access to pipe-borne water, 93 (61%). Further analysis of water samples from pipes, boreholes, and wells revealed that out of the 20 samples, 15 (75%) tested positive for both total and fecal coliforms with values between1 and 6 colony-forming units (CFU) per 100 milliliter (mL) sample. There is also increasing evidence that malaria contributes the greatest disease burden in the municipality, being responsible for around 23.1% of all disability adjusted life years (DALYs) between 2009 and 2013. Diarrhea and typhoid have the second and third highest disease burden rates and were responsible for approximately 19.5% and 1.2% of all DALYs between 2009 and 2013, respectively. A major recommendation of this study is that education on good sanitation be intensified, as 75 (49%) of the respondents did not attend child care programs where education on how to maintain good sanitation is given.