Water and Sanitation Deprivation and Disease Experience in Inner Core Neighbourhoods of Minna, Nigeria

The inner cores of Nigerian cities constitute a unique place form derived from their pre-colonial and pre-planning origin. So, from origin, the cores constitute public health challenges. Poor access to water and sanitation in... [ view full abstract ]

The inner cores of Nigerian cities constitute a unique place form derived from their pre-colonial and pre-planning origin. So, from origin, the cores constitute public health challenges. Poor access to water and sanitation in the core encourages unsafe disposal of both human and domestic liquid waste and leads to breeding of disease vectors, infections and sometimes epidemics. Records from the National Demographic and Health Survey, 2013 show that 77.7% of urban population have access to improved water supply while 42.7% have access to improved sanitation. This study centres on five inner core neighbourhoods of Minna. These neighbourhoods experience different shades of water and sanitation problems. The objectives of the paper are to examine access to water and sanitation, investigate experience of diseases among the households, interrogate adaptation to water and sanitation deprivation and establish relationship between water and sanitation deprivation and diseases. The paper depends on data from questionnaire administration to 375 households, and physical observations of the immediate environments of residential buildings. Data analysis is done by utilising linear scaling technique to derive water and sanitation development index (WSDI) and disease experience and care index (DECI). The WSDI is measured by accessibility, use, measure of stress, adaptation, privacy, capability and physical conditions while DECI is measured by disease frequency, incidence of disease among children, care and measure of major health mishap. Regression analysis is used to examine statistical relationship between water and sanitation (WSDI) and diseases (DECI). It is the position of the paper that the current access to water and sanitation by urban households constitutes both poor environmental quality and threat to public health. This, on the long rung undermines human wellbeing and urban liveability. Therefore, concerted efforts are required to make urban life less vulnerable to poor health conditions.

Key words: water, sanitation, urban core, households, disease