Risk of faecal pollution among waste handlers in a resource-deprived coastal peri-urban settlement in Southern Ghana

• Published in: PloS one 2020-10, Vol.15 (10), p.e0239587
• Main Authors: Kretchy, James-Paul, Dzodzomenyo, Mawuli, Ayi, Irene, Dwomoh, Duah, Agyabeng, Kofi, Konradsen, Flemming, Dalsgaard, Anders
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biology and Life Sciences; Defecation; E coli; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Engineering and Technology; Environmental risk; Handlers; Hands; Health aspects; Health risks; Health sciences; Hygiene; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metropolitan areas; Occupational health; Pathogens; Personal protective equipment; Pollution; Protective devices; Protective equipment; Public health; Risk; Risk factors; Risk taking; Safety and security measures; Sanitation; Sanitation facilities; Sanitation workers; Solid waste disposal; Solid wastes; Standard deviation; Toilet facilities; Variance analysis; Waste disposal; Waste management; Water pollution; Workers
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239587

Resource-deprived coastal peri-urban settlements in Southern Ghana are characterized by indiscriminate solid waste disposal and open defecation practices. Persons engaged in waste handling in such communities perform their activities with little or no personal protective equipment. They are thus confronted with the risk of faecal pollution of the hands and other bodily parts. A mixed method approach was used to investigate 280 waste handlers performing different activities to estimate recent faecal pollution of their hands and to observe the utilization of personal protective equipment and sanitation/hygiene facilities during work. The log concentration of E. coli on hands of waste handlers after work (8.60 ± 4.20 CFU/hand, mean ± standard deviation) was significantly higher compared with the E. coli log concentration before work (2.95 ± 1.89 CFU/hand, mean ± standard deviation) (p