Research works

KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF SANITATION IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KANAM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE.

 

CHAPTER ONE

                                               INTRODUCTION                                              

1.1            Background to the Study

      World Health Organization defined sanitation as the means of collecting and disposing excreta and community liquids, waste in a hygienic way. So as not to endanger the health and welfare and also for the social and environmental effects, it may have on people; people have been suffering from one disease to another without knowing the problems of their illness, the situation and due to distress or dirty environment. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

 Similarly, Iheke (2010) sees sanitation as the process of keeping places clean and hygienic especially by providing a sewage system and a clean water supply. Sanitation refers to all conditions that affect the health of people in a geographical area. Billions of people still live without access to sanitation facilities and are unable to practice such basic hygienic as washing their hands with soap and water.

Disease related to poor sanitation and water availability because many people to die of sickness like cholera, diarrhea, malaria, typhoid, which damages the body tissues. Children are most vulnerable to health hazards and consequently are affected the most. In 1998, 2.2 million people died because of poor sanitation, which the vast majorities were children (school children).

The promotion of hygiene and sanitation practices in schools has been an interactive perspective of many education stakeholders to broaden its conceptual focus from the community orientation to school children base foundation. It is well recognized that schools offer an important foundation point of entry for upgrading the child’s profile of hygiene and sanitation behaviour at the same time improving the environmental health conditions in schools and surrounding communities.

  Children who adopt good hygiene practices at a tender age, not only work as peer advocates but also are likely to grow-up to be equally conscious adults and later on transfer this knowledge, skills and practices to their families and their colleagues.

Schools can be a key agent for initiating change by helping to develop useful life skills on health and hygiene. Children are often eager to learn and willing to absorb new ideas. New hygiene behaviour learned at school can lead to life-long positive habits. Teachers can function as role models, not only for the children but also within the community. School children can influence the behaviour of family members - both adults and younger siblings - and thereby positively influence the community as a whole. It is also more cost-effective to work with children in school-based programmes than with adults.

A school child educated to the benefits of sanitation and good hygiene behaviour is a conduit for carrying those messages far beyond the school boarders, bringing lasting improvement not only to his or her health and wellbeing, but also to that of the family and wider community. It is difficult therefore to over-emphasise the importance of school health and hygiene education.

In 1950 the world health organizations expert committee on environmental sanitation defines environmental sanitation as the control of community, water supplies, excreta and waste water disposal, refuse disposal, vector of diseases, housing conditions,  food supplies and handling conditions, food supplies and atmospheric conditions and the safety of the working environment. Environmental problems have grown in complexity especially with the advert of radiation and chemical hazards. Meanwhile the world needs for the basic sanitation services (like drinking water supply, excreta and waste water disposal), have greatly increased as a result of rapid population growth and highly expectations.

There has been considerable awareness of water supply in institution, but the problems of excreta and waste disposal have received less attention. In Kanam LGA, everywhere is littered with pieces of papers and so on, without proper disposal. In order to focus attention of these problems. Sanitation exercise should be done daily to keep the environment clean by employing labourers that will help keep the schools clean. Environments should be formulated in order to kill dangerous animals like snake, scorpion etc.

In school hostels, there are problems of over-crowding and these affects the health of the students in the hostel. More than 200 students share four (4) toilets. Mostly girls in hostel have inadequate sanitation facilities. Inadequate sanitation and water in school jeopardize not only the students health but also their attendance. Girls in particular area likely to be kept out of school, if there is no sanitation.

Seminars should be organized in institutions to help educate students more, especially girls in the hostel on menstrual hygiene, sanitation hygienic practices, cleanliness in the surroundings. To make everywhere conducive for teaching and learning, lack of skills and this have hindered the educational prospects of girls residing in the hostel. Flies pitch on dirt’s, toilet etc and later petch on uncovered foods and all this are dangerous to human health.

Throughout the world, the problem of polluted environment has become a very disturbing phenomenon. Environmental problems plaguing the world are enormous. But perhaps the most serious and worrisome in Nigeria is the physical environment in terms of the low level of sanitation and gross environmental indiscipline in our schools. Apart from the health significance of heaps of refuse as a health hazard, they also make our environment ugly. The problem of solid waste disposal in Nigeria has become a national malaise.

Filth is an eyesore and a nuisance. It signifies decadence and backwardness. A look at some Nigerian schools would reveal the very low levels of sanitation.

The woe of poor environmental sanitation such as indiscriminate waste disposal is evidence of the crucial role environment occupies in deciding the health of a man.

In fact, never before, in the history of Nigeria has the need become more imperative and urgent to sharpen our consciousness concerning our surroundings. For in such consciousness lies our dignity and salvation as a people and as a nation. This is because some Nigerian still go about with the dangerous impression that dorti no dey kill black man (Filth does not kill black man) However, over the years, specific measures undertaken by the Nigerian.

Inadequate sanitation creates public health risks through waterway contamination, person-to-person spread of disease, and other public exposure pathways leading to negative health outcomes, particularly diarrhea and stunted growth. Diarrhea is a deleterious and common symptom of bacteria, virus and helminth infections.

The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 million children die from diarrheal symptoms each year worldwide, with 88% of these deaths due to inadequate sanitation, hygiene and drinking water. Diarrhea accounted for at least eight percent of total lost disability-adjusted life years in developing countries in 1990.

The objectives of environmental sanitation are to create and maintain conditions in the environment that will promote health and prevent diseases (Lucas and Gilles, 1973). This is because Environmental Sanitation deals with: Methods for the disposal of excreta, sewage and community wastes to ensure that they are adequate and safe, water supplies, to ensure that they are pure and wholesome, milk and other food supplies to ensure that they are safe, Personal and public health cleanliness especially in relation to diseases,  Control of arthropod, rodent, molluse or other alternative hosts associated with human disease, Atmospheric conditions to ensure that the external atmosphere is free from deleterious elements and that internal conditions of workshops, houses etc are suitable for the occupations undertaken in them and finally,

School environment, to ensure freedom from risk to health, whether mechanical or biological and to provide the best working and living conditions (Abam, 1998).

Good Schools need Good Students and Good Students need Good Sanitation. Sanitation is at the core of human dignity and human progress. Access to sanitary toilets not only ensures dignity of the individual but also positively impacts health, well-being and productivity, reduces drop-out rates and encourages regular attendance in schools. Before developing any water protection, the health benefits of an improved water supply and sanitation need to be accepted by schools. You can provide hygiene education for the students in order to promote their behavioural change.

1.2     STATEMENTS OF PROBLEM:-

Control of pests, waste disposal had become a problem in our schools environments because of poor sanitation practices by student. Diseases related to poor sanitation and water availability causes many people to die of sickness like cholera, diarrhea, malaria, typhoid which damages the body tissues.

However, it is not clear on the extent in which school management and student have contributed in curbing poor sanitation practices. The problem of this study is to find out the knowledge and practice of sanitation by the students of the selected schools.