Boreholes Provision, Health, and Personal Hygiene Issues Relating To Poverty Reduction in The Atebubu And Afram Plains Districts of Ghana

Abstract

Prior to boreholes being provided in the study area (the Atebubu and Afram Plains Districts), the major cause of poverty was identified as the lack of potable water. Poor health was common due to recurring infestation with water borne/related diseases contracted from patronage of surface water sources. These diseases, especially guinea worm, physically incapacitated both adults and children. Thus, ill-health and time poverty due to long hours spent searching for water combined to deny adults of basic substantive freedoms and compromised their ability to engage in productive livelihoods activities to earn income to facilitate their emergence from poverty.  Also, the tedium of searching for water in the physical environment affected the physical health and cognitive capacity of children resulting in very poor learning experiences at school. The sample size for the study was 1,200 household respondents from eighty communities provided with boreholes selected by simple random sampling technique. Six hundred household respondents from 34 Control communities (without boreholes) were also selected by simple random sampling. Quantitative and qualitative research instruments were employed in primary data collection in both Districts. Findings from the study showed 96.9% of respondents indicated complete eradication of guinea worm from their communities resulting in freedom from the incapacitating disease; 87.4% indicated improved health. Also, 87.9% of respondents indicated boreholes facilitated improved personal hygiene. Boreholes provision helping to improve infant and child health was indicated by 89.0% of respondents. Counterfactual evidence from the Control communities showed 71.1% of respondents indicated very poor hygiene practices prevalent.

Key words: Boreholes; Health; Personal hygiene; Waterborne/related diseases; Opportunistic and Occupational poverty.