Assessment of the Household Practices of Drinking Water Collection, Transportation and Storage in Fako Division, South West Region of Cameroon

Introduction The supply of potable water in low resource countries has been a public health concern, with frequent water interruptions, leaving the population vulnerable to access to potable water in households, which renders the population at risk of waterborne diseases like cholera. Our objectives were to assess the household practices of drinking water collection, transportation and storage in the Fako Division of the Southwest Region of Cameroon.Methods This was a cross sectional study with a mixed method approach. Focus Group Discussions were done to get an inside of the observed practices and a quasi experimental study with education as an intervention. A total of 394 households were randomly selected and issued a pretested questionnaire. A multistage random sampling technique was used to recruit the participants in the households in the four health districts of Fako. For the quasi experiment, 50 water samples from 50 homes were tested before and after the intervention to measure the mean microbial score in stored household drinking water. A one sample t test was used to compare the mean microbial colony count at baseline and 3 months post intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Crude and adjusted odds ratios and confidence intervals were reported at a significance level of 0.05. Results Assessing the participants practice in drinking water collection and transportation, 273 69.3 of the participants reported public taps as their primary source of drinking water. The main alternative source of drinking water was spring 233 59.1 . More than half 56.3 of the respondents reported that they take more than 30 minutes to fetch water, done mostly by children 62.2 , and the majority 89.1 do this by trekking. Over half, 268 68 of the participants used buckets with lids, and 119 30.2 , use jerry cans to fetch water. A total of 184 46.7 reported a bucket with a lid as the water storage container meanwhile 34 8.6 and 176 44.7 stored water in a bucket with no lid and jerry cans respectively. Almost a half 180 46.9 store their drinking water for more than 2 days. The mean bacterial colony count 29.72 ± 40.07 after the intervention was significantly lower than the mean bacterial colony at baseline 71.4 ± 68.38, t 50 = 6.846, P 0.001 .Conclusion The primary source of drinking water in Fako is public tap, alternative source being a spring. More than half of the participants trek to fetch water and almost half of the participants store drinking water for more than 2 days. Intervention with health education significantly lowered the mean bacterial colony count in household drinking water. Malika Esembeson | Palle John Ngunde | Kamgno Joseph | Ronald Gobina | Vivian EA Eta | Binwi Florence Nkemayim | Ndefon Peter | Serge Ngekeng | Kukwah Anthony Tufon | Ngomba Divine Martin Mokake | Henry Dilonga Meriki | Njunda Anna Longdoh "Assessment of the Household Practices of Drinking Water Collection, Transportation and Storage in Fako Division, South-West Region of Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-3 , April 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd49738.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/other-scientific-research-area/other/49738/assessment-of-the-household-practices-of-drinking-water-collection-transportation-and-storage-in-fako-division-southwest-region-of-cameroon/malika-esembeson