Knowledge and practices of households on safe water chain maintenance in a slum community in Kampala City, Uganda

• Published in: Environmental health and preventive medicine 2019-06, Vol.24 (1), p.45-9, Article 45
• Main Authors: Ssemugabo, Charles, Wafula, Solomon Tsebeni, Ndejjo, Rawlance, Oporia, Frederick, Osuret, Jimmy, Musoke, David, Halage, Abdullah Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chains; Community; Confidence intervals; Contamination; Data collection; Drinking water; Environmental health; Epidemics; Generalized linear models; Ghettos; Households; Hygiene; Maintenance; Population; Preventive medicine; Questionnaires; Response rates; Robustness (mathematics); Safe water chain; Sample size; Sanitation; Slum; Slums; Statistical analysis; Storage containers; Tropical diseases; Typhoid; Uganda; Variables; Water quality; Water supply; Waterborne diseases
• ISSN: 1342-078X; 1347-4715
• DOI: 10.1186/s12199-019-0799-3

More than half of the disease burden in Uganda can be prevented through improving water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). In slum communities, water supply is insufficient but also highly contaminated; therefore, ensuring that the safe water chain is maintained by households is paramount to preventing water-related diseases. This study aimed at assessing knowledge and practices of households on safe water chain maintenance in slum communities in Kampala City, Uganda. This was a community-based cross-sectional study carried out among 395 households in slum communities in Kampala, Uganda. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Prevalence ratios (PRs) and their 95% confidence intervals were used as a measure of association between safe water chain management and associated knowledge and practice factors. The PRs were obtained using a multivariable modified Poisson regression with logarithm as the link function, with robust standard errors. Majority (76.7%, 303/395) of the households collected their water from a piped water system and paid for the water (72.9%, 288/395). Almost all (97.2%, 384/395) of the participants said that they knew the dangers associated with drinking unsafe water, boiled their drinking water (95.4%, 377/395), and used storage containers that minimize contamination (97.0%, 383/395). However, only (32.4%, 128/395) of the households satisfactorily maintained the safe water chain. Female- (adjusted PR = 1.82, 95% CI (1.19-2.78)) and student-led households (adjusted PR = 1.58, 95% CI (1.03-2.41)) and those whose heads had attained post-primary education (adjusted PR = 1.48, 95% CI (1.02-2.17)) were more likely to satisfactorily maintain the safe water chain. This was similar among members who thought most contamination occurs during storage (adjusted PR = 1.47, 95% CI (1.10-1.97)). Only a third of the households maintained the safe water chain satisfactory. Female-led, student-led, and post-primary educated-led household and household that thought most contamination occurs during storage were more likely to maintain the safe water chain. There is a need to improve the level of awareness about the importance of the safe water chain among slum dwellers.