Water, Sanitation, Socio-economic Status and Prevalence of Waterborne Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study at Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu

The purpose of this study was to understand the problem of attaining safe and clean water that has contributed to high incidence of water borne diseases and to investigate its effects on the residents at Kadyanallur Municipality in Tirunelveli District. This study aims to assess the association of water, sanitation and socioeconomic status with the prevalence rate of waterborne diseases. A survey was used to collect data from 400 male and female participants to determine their source, treatment and storage of water; sanitary facilities; attitude, experience and knowledge of waterborne diseases. Data were analyzed by performing the Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test of independence, invariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis. The first question of this study was to assess the main source of water for residents at Kadyanallur Municipality. In the study sample of 400 participants, it was found that most of the residents got water from a communal tap (61.4%), suggesting that the risk of public health exposure was high. Findings from the study clearly revealed that the residents had an overwhelming knowledge of waterborne diseases (94.6%). The familiar waterborne diseases to them include cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, and typhoid fever. Whereas they had this knowledge, it was noted from the study results that most of the residents did not boil (62.2%) or add chlorine (66.8%) to make the water safe for use. Therefore, this situation suggests that residents at Kadyanallur Municipality are not doing enough to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases.