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Abstract:
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Abstract Unhygienic practices have been associated with
the spread of parasitic and bacterial infections in rural
areas. This study was designed to verify the link between
the frequencies of malaria and typhoid fever with selected
rural practices in Njoro District, Kenya. A cross-sectional
study involving observations, questionnaires and interviews was conducted to determine the socio-economic
variables and practices/lifestyles in 336 randomly selected
homesteads. Frequencies of malaria and typhoid fever in
two randomly selected health centers were determined
through a retrospective study for the period from 2004 to
2009. The respondents had large families (68%), low
education level (67%) and high responsibility burden
(67%). Individuals who did not boil drinking water constituted 61%. Boiling drinking water was less common
among the poor, Odds Ratio (OR) of 2.36, v2 = 9.88, 95%
Confidence Interval (CI) of 1.38–4.03. Respondents who
washed their hands in a basin after using the latrines
comprised 79.8% while 4.8% did not. 18.5% of the
respondents did not use a soap to wash their hands after
using the latrine. One third (33.6%) of the homesteads had
dirty and inappropriate pit latrines while 2.7% of the
homesteads lacked latrines. Failure to use mosquito bed
nets was more likely to occur among the poor respondents,
OR of 1.44, v2 = 1.74, 95% CI of 0.84–2.48. The frequencies of malaria and typhoid fever were an average of
29 and 24% respectively. Malaria and typhoid fever cases
were relatively frequent due to adoption of inappropriate
lifestyles and practices that predisposed the residents to
infectious agents. Poverty seemed to play a significant role
in the spread of malaria and typhoid fever. |