Sanitation and hygiene safety issues (Bangladesh)

The primary key drivers of an individual’s health and safety are sanitation and hygiene facilities. This study is aimed to explore the existing sanitation and hygiene practices of slum inhabitants. The cross-sectional study was conducted at Kalabagan slum area in Jashore. Based on the total number of slum households, 99 households were chosen for the questionnaire survey and a total five of water samples were collected from different sites of the study area for the laboratory analysis to assess the health risk of slum peoples using “Semi-quantitative risk assessment approach by WHO”. From the study it was found that 97% respondents wash their hands with soap after defecation. In the slum, about 68% respondents have personal latrine, 32% respondents use community latrine and as a whole 87% of the studied toilets were found to be single unimproved pit latrine. On the other hand, by WHO’s Health Risk Assessment approach, low to very high level of health hazards have been identified in the study area.

Laboratory test results for the final disposal of wastewater samples exhibit high concentration of BOD5 144 mg/L, TSS 200 mg/L, and FC 2620 Nos. /100 mL which pose high risk for the human health and the environment. Finally, the improved sanitation service chain has been proposed in the study area for the improvement of this situation. So, emphasis on the sanitation and hygiene promotion, awareness program, campaign should be raised to make the slum people more conscious about hygienic behavior. Many motivational work and idea marketing from government and NGO sides help to improve their awareness level.