Status of sanitation and hygienic conditions in urban communities in Gomoa East District, Ghana

The study examined the sanitation and hygienic conditions in urban communities in Gomoa East District in Central Region of Ghana. A cross sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 360 inhabitants from three urban communities. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The study revealed that tap water was the major source of drinking water in the communities, usually purchased from water vendors and stored in closed containers. Most inhabitants (42.5 %) used Public Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines. Some household toilets (21.7 %) never had covers whilst the ones which had covers too were not closed after they had been used. As a result, most toilets produced offensive odour. Unwholesome environmental practices such as open dumping and burning of garbage were prevalent in the study area. The result of the multiple logistic regression showed significant association between gender and their participation in community sanitation exercise (p < 0.05) with male showing more participation than females (OR = 0.516, C.I = 0.308-0.865). The state of sanitation and hygienic conditions in the Gomoa East District was inadequate. There is the need for the District Environmental Health and Sanitation Department to establish and enforce a more robust environmental sanitation approach and health education to improve upon sanitary conditions in the Gomoa East District.