Abstract:
Background: Globally, one major feature of markets is the generation of all manner of waste – animal waste, waste from food products sold, human waste, among others. To prevent negative occurrences as diseases and food poisoning, sanitation at markets must be adequately addressed.
Objectives: The study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitudes and practices of sanitation and health of market users at the Agbogbloshie market in Accra, Ghana. It explored three objectives as follows: assessing market users’ knowledge of sanitation and health; examining attitudes of market users toward sanitation and health; and investigating the sanitation and health practices of market users.
Methods: The research employed the descriptive survey method with questionnaire administration and face to face interviews as the data collection tools using the mixed methods approach. The qualitative study employed the purposive sampling technique to select 5 participants for the in-depth interviews. The quantitative research employed the simple random sampling technique in selecting a sample size of 410 respondents making a total of 415 participants.
Findings: The quantitative findings indicated that, market users at Agbogbloshie market displayed moderate levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding sanitation and health with no significant relationships between knowledge, attitudes and practices. The qualitative findings also depicted poor sanitation management, apathy toward clean-up campaigns and indiscriminate defecation practices by market sellers.
Conclusions: The study contradicted previous ones which claimed that market users had high levels of knowledge regarding sanitation and health, poor attitudes and good
practices. This study therefore recommended that the Accra Metropolitan Authority collaborates with stakeholders to educate the market users on sanitation and health and provide decent places of convenience.
