Environmental Hygiene and Household Health in Kamuli Town Council Kamuli District

ABSTRACT Historically there has been life behind our ways of living and human health has always been linked to our surroundings. During early ages of child development, there are practices that parents instill into their children not for formality but for good health even in the child’s future. Though some practices are forcefully instilled into some children like bathing of one’s body some practices like cleaning of the compound, having a good latrine are always the responsibility of parents. Today many people are facing cyclic sicknesses because of neglecting sanitation and hygiene practices. Diarrhea and malaria especially among children of 0-4 years is a major causal factor for the increased mortality rate among people. This study looked at the practices that some people tend to ignore and are thus not talcen as serious issues to somebody’s health. The objectives were; to find out the basic hygiene practices known by the people in KTC, to determine the availability, accessibility and status of sanitation facilities at household level in KTC, to determine the rate of adoption of the known hygienic practices in preventing infection and promoting healthy living. The study used a number of methods and these include; questionnaire, interview guides, observation checklist, photography and focus group discussions. The findings indicated that the practice of boiling drinking water is not common among majority of households. There is poor waste management both solid waste and waste water which act can lead to contamination of water sources by run off through the town, yet these water sources (spring water sources) are among the major sources of safe drinking water. Thus with time they may no longerbe safe because of poorly managed urban waste. The study also found out that some areas in the town do not have well designed system for solid waste collection and thus people end up dumping waste everywhere, such dump sites looked urthygienic with bad odour which is unpleasant to people’s health. In conclusion, household hygiene is still poor among urbanites, many people risk to drink untreated drinking water yet such water (bore holes and spring water) is not safe. As a result, promotion of household environmental hygiene calls for concerted effort by both the government and NOOs and the people instead of leaving all to NGOs only if we are to break the cycle of hygiene and sanitation related infections. However, there are recommendations that can be undertaken as first step towards promotion of environmental hygiene in KTC and these included; sensitization of people about hygiene, recruitment of more health inspectors, construction of sewage treatment system and formation of community health clubs.