Health promotion intervention for hygienic disposal of children's faeces in a rural area of Nigeria

Objective Community-based health promotion intervention for improving unhygienic disposal of children's faeces was conducted in a rural area of Nigeria. Setting The study was conducted in Ife South Local Government area of Osun State, Nigeria. Design The study was conducted in 10 randomly selected rural villages: five control and five active. Method The intervention, which lasted for nine months, consisted of hygienic use of chamber-pots for the disposal of children's faeces, discouraging children from defecation around households, construction and use of affordable Ventilated Improved Latrines (VIP) and hand-washing with soap and water by mothers after cleaning up the children's faeces. It was undertaken by primary health care workers, using group and individual discussions, plus demonstrations to mothers and community leaders. Results Significantly more mothers in the intervention communities (68 per cent compared with 6 per cent) were using chamber-pots (pow) for defecation, a much smaller proportion of children in the active group (25 per cent compared with 72 per cent) defecated on the floor of the households. Significantly more households in the intervention group upgraded their unsanitary latrines to sanitary ones by ventilating them (7 per cent compared with 3 per cent). Also, significantly more mothers washed their hands with soap and water (20 per cent in the intervention group compared with 9 per cent in the control group). Conclusions This study has brought about positive changes in the knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers and their children towards the disposal of children's faeces in rural communities. The study therefore has significant implications for the development of programmes for the control of childhood diarrhoea in developing countries.