Access to Improved Toilet Facilities Among Predominantly Farming Communities in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed access to improved toilet facilities among prominently farming communities in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The influences of household's demographic and socio-economic factors on access to improved toilet facilities in the area were also determined. Multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 240 respondent-households used for the study. Data were collected through interview schedule and analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics, including percentages and probit regression analysis. Result showed that 79.6% of the respondent-households were male-headed; mean age of heads of households was 54years; 80% were famers; and 72.5% had no formal education. Average size of households was 7 members while average yearly household income was ₦126,458.33k (equivalence of $346.46). About 1 out of 5 households in the area (or 13.9%) had access to improved toilet facilities while 86.1% used unimproved facilities including open defecation (29.2%) and shared toilets (20.7%). Result from probit regression analysis showed that the overall fit of the model was good at 9368.836, which was significant at l% level. Furthermore, household’s size (0.27), annual income (0.41) and main occupation of head (0.87) showed positive and highly significant relationship with access to improved toilet facilities at 1% level while sex (8.49) and education (8.75) were also both positive but significant at 5% and 10% levels respectively. It was concluded that access to improved toilet facilities was low in the study area and that it was influenced by demographic and socio-economic characteristics of households. Mass campaign was recommended while on-going effort to improve adult literacy and rural income through agriculture was encouraged.                              

Key words: Access to improved toilets, Unimproved toilets, Farming communities, Ebonyi State, Nigeria     

DOI: 10.7176/JEES/9-11-12

Publication date: November 30^th 2019