Factors associated with rural-urban safe disposal of children stools in Ghana
Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Research Notes
Abstract
Introduction The burden of children’s disease in many low- and middle-income countries is associated with poor
sanitation, including unsafe disposal of children’s stool. Infants and toddler stools pose a greater public health risk
than adults. Studies on stool disposal in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Ghana have focused on prevalence, patterns,
and associated factors. Nevertheless, these studies have not focused on factors that independently influence rural
and/or urban child stool disposal. This study, therefore, examines factors associated with safe child stool disposal in
rural areas separately from urban areas towards Ghana’s readiness for ending open defecation by 2030.
Methodology We examined young children’s faecal disposal, drawing on the sixth round of the nationally representative Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted in 2017/18. This study was restricted to
children under two years, yielding a sub-sample of 3,476. Responses of caregivers or mothers who disposed of
children less than two years faecal age, their characteristics in addition to the child’s age in months were analysed.
A binary logistic regression was used to examine the factors associated with the safe disposal of young children’s
stools.
Results In the aggregated data, only 22% of households, regardless of their residence, dispose of their young
children less than two years stools safely. From the disaggregated data, the rural analysis shows that 26% of young
children’s stools were safely disposed of, compared to 16% in the urban analysis. The urban analysis shows that the
child’s age, sex and caregiver’s marital status were significantly associated with safe disposal of stools. On the other
hand, child’s age, caregiver listening to radio and household access to improved toilet facilities were significant in the
rural analysis.
Conclusion The safe practice of stool disposal was very low. The results of this study show that urgent and different
policies and strategies are needed to address child stool disposal in urban residences compared to rural residences if
we are to meet SDG targets of ending open defecation
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Stool, Safe disposal, Rural-urban differentials