In-School Adolescents’ Attention to Communication Interventions on Open Defecation

Abstract

The practice of open defecation has been recognized as one of the leading threats to human health and one of the world’s leading causes of diseases such as acute diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid, intestinal worms etc. This study examined whether in-school students in Anambra State, Nigeria, engage in the practice and how they internalize the communication interventions targeted at getting rid of the practice among them. This is  in view of the PEWASH Program (Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation & Hygiene, 2015), and the National road map of “Making Nigeria Open Defecation Free by 2025” developed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with support from UNICEF and other key players across Nigeria. The design for this study was survey. The study population comprised 129,289 In-school adolescents in Anambra State, covering only public Schools under the Anambra State Post Primary Schools Service Commission (PPSSC). A sample size of 402 was drawn based on Yamane and Meyer’s suggestions. The study found that the students were entirely aware of the interventions but only 5% of them were aware of the Federal government PEWASH campaign. While 57% of them received the interventions via word of mouth, others did so through Television (9%); radio (18%); posters (1%) and then writings on some walls (14%). This study also revealed that the interventions they were mostly exposed to were the warnings by the school management that they should not defecate in the open or litter the school premises. We strongly recommended sensitization campaigns on the issue of open defecation as one way of checking the practice; especially among In-school adolescents.

Keywords: In-school adolescents, Interventions, Attention, Responses, open defecation

DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/49-07

Publication date:June 30^th 2019