Latrine coverage and its utilisation in a rural village of Eastern Nepal: a community-based cross-sectional study
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A little more than 1/3rd of the rural households in Nepal have improved latrine facility. The government of Nepal is working towards making an open defecation free area all over Nepal. There is no data found in literature searches regarding the status of latrines and its utilisation in Nepal. This study aims to estimate the coverage and utilisation of latrine and its associated factors in a rural community of Nepal. METHODS: We conducted a cross sectional study in March 2015-September 2015 among 625 households in Hattimuda Village, Morang district in Eastern Nepal using semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire with observational checklists. RESULTS: Out of 623 households, 473 (76.9%) have latrine facilities. There is an increase in latrine coverage in Hattimuda by 37% (38.9% in 2011 to 75.9% in 2016). Majority of the latrines (89.9%) were functional, however 32.3% needs maintenance. The extent of latrine utilisation among those households with a toilet at home was satisfactory (94.3%). Presence of child below 5 years of age at home (OR 2.37, 95% CI 0.05-0.46), functional latrine (OR 27.37, 95% CI 6.84-109.45), frequency of cleaning (OR 3.66, 95% CI 1.09-12.29) and latrine constructed with self-initiation (OR 4.21, 95% CI 1.06-16.66) are factors significantly associated with the utilisation of the latrine. CONCLUSIONS: While the coverage needs to be increased, appropriate interventions to increase the utilisation of latrine needs to be in place so that the village moves closer to open defecation free (ODF) status. As other studies are not found from Nepal, the findings from this study can be used a reference for other rural areas of Nepal.
Date Issued
2017-06-12
Date Acceptance
2017-06-08
Citation
BMC Research Notes, 2017, 10 (1)
ISSN
1756-0500
Publisher
BioMed Central
Start Page
209
Journal / Book Title
BMC Research Notes
Volume
10
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28606171
PII: 10.1186/s13104-017-2539-3
Subjects
Latrine coverage
Open defecation free initiative
Open field defecation
Sanitation in rural Nepal
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Family Characteristics
Female
Housing
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Nepal
Rural Population
Socioeconomic Factors
Toilet Facilities
Young Adult
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
ARTN 209