ASSESSING THE DETERMINANTS OF OPEN DEFECATION FREE COMMUNITIES BASED ON THE SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS IN THE MION DISTRICT OF NORTHERN REGION, GHANA

Abstract

The study was conducted in twenty open defecation free communities of the Mion District in the Northern Region with the objective of assessing the determinants of open defecation free communities based socio-demographic and economic status of household heads correlational analysis. The study design was mainly quantitative and involved225 respondents. The study found that, 73.4 percent have hand washing facilities for washing their hands after defecating but no soap, 62.2 percent of the respondents indicated had hand washing facilities, water and soap. The correlation analysis shows that there was a relationship between household size and open defecation free communities (p=0.000), age of respondents and open defecation free communities (p=0.000), religion and open defecation free communities (p=0.000) and the presence of water at toilets and open defecation free communities (p=0.017). The relationship between the use of soap and open defecation free communities could not be determined (p=0.050). Eighty-four (21.3%) percent of the respondents indicated that the high cost of constructing toilets was the reason why they had no household toilets. Other factors why toilets were not constructed in homes were lack of technical support (14.7%), waiting for external support (33.3%) and the notion that household toilets were not necessary (30.7%). The study concludes that the determinants of open defecation free communities in the Mion District are age, household size, religion and belief systems, and the presence of water and income of residents. The study recommends that governmental and nongovernmental agencies in water and sanitation must support the aged and the poor to construct household toilets. All agencies supporting water and sanitation must harmonize their activities on community led total sanitation and further education and sensitization is necessary to ensure that communities that attained open defecation free status do not relapse into open defecation.