Abstract:

Background: In Bugogwa and Sangabuye ward, the structural fitness of latrine at household level has remained unknown for long time. The present study therefore, aims at examining the structural fitness of latrine at household level in these wards. Latrine coverage especially in rural areas has been like a vicious cycle, it goes higher during the dry season and when come to rainy season latrine coverage goes down. This could be due to the durability of the building materials that are used by the natives in constructing their latrine and also the fitness of the latrines in general. For example in sandy soil when it comes to rainy season most of the pits collapse if the pit linings were not built.

The building materials for latrines in the areas are available but the challenge to why people do not construct structural fit latrine is high cost of these materials as the researcher found people using local materials (MATENGA) to build their pit linings which are not durable and to not prevent the fecal materials to contaminate underground water.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess structural fitness of pit latrines at household level.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out focusing to assess structural fitness of pit latrine at household level. A total of 390 households were visited in two wards, the data were collected using questionnaire and personal observation (checklist) data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 version.

Results: 49 (20.9%) households for Bugogwa and 62 (39.7%) households for Sangabuye had no latrines. Most of the households in the area had open pit/traditional pit latrines 163 (69.7%) for Bugogwa and 77 (49.4%) for Sangabuye. On issue of the factors which influence structural fit latrines construction in the area was found to be availability of low cost construction materials 98 (53%) respondents for Bugogwa 47 (50.0%) for Sangabuye and another thing was household priority to construct a fit latrine. Concerning the issue of factors that hinder the adoption of structural fit latrine in the area the researcher found 133 (71.9%) respondents for Bugogwa and 57 (60.6%) for Sangabuye who reported the high cost of building materials as the main hindrance to structural fit latrine adoption in the area.

On the issue of open defecation, most of people who practice open defecation had no knowledge on the health impact of open defecation and the issue of open defecation has been there for a long time and the society consider being normal. Some people in the area are in microfinance groups 55 (23.5%) for Bugogwa and 29 (18.6%) for Sangabuye, but no anyone who prioritize construction of latrine after benefiting with microfinance groups. Lastly many latrines in the areas lack structural fitness in one way or another, by lacking some of basic needs for structural fit latrine, such as super structure of durable materials, floor of durable materials, doors, roof, vent and most of pits lining were not built and some built using local materials.

Conclusion: The majority of latrines in the areas lack structural fitness, so it’s the responsibility of ward development committee and NGOs working in the areas to put into consideration the issue of structural fitness of latrine and latrine usage in Bugogwa and Sangabuye ward and make sure are solved or minimized without a delay.

Recommendation: The researcher recommends ward development and NGOs working in these areas to take into consideration the issue of cost of latrines building materials, recruit construction experts who can train the natives to build low cost improved pit latrines. Also the NGOs need to introduce and train people to use ecological sanitation especially in high water table areas. Lastly they need to strongly emphasize and educate the society on the health impact of open defecation and if possible to begin with the young community especially those in school.