FACTORS AFFECTING SANITATION AND HYGIENE PRACTICE AMONG STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AT ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA, 2023.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Background: Sanitation and hygiene in schools including public universities is a major problem in Ethiopia: 40% of schools have unimproved latrines; only 6% of schools have basic hand-washing facilities with soap; and 18% have limited services. Poor sanitation causes productivity loses including absenteeism in school because of the associated diarrheal diseases as well as the time taken to seek care in the health facilities. In Ethiopian public universities, gaps in sanitation and hygiene practice result in a more serious effect since the students are living in a confined condition, sharing common services. Sanitation and hygiene knowledge and practices are very important to decrease these disease burdens especially in places like public universities. Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the status and factors affecting sanitation and hygiene practice among students in public universities at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: The study applied a cross-sectional study design from February –March, 2023. A total of 469 students from Kotebe Education University and Ethiopia Civil Service University were selected for the study. Data was collected using structured and pre-tested self administered questionnaire and observational checklist. Data entry, cleaning, editing and analysis were done using Epi info version 7 and “SPSS version 25.” Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were employed to assess the association between dependent and independent variables. Results: About 63.8 % of students had high knowledge about hand washing and hygiene and about 61.2 % had bad sanitation and hygiene practice. Factors significantly associated with sanitation and hygiene practice at p value <0.05 were sex (AOR=5.37,95%CI (3.214,8.970). Residence before university admission (AOR=0.525, 95%CI (0.300, 0.919) and year of study (AOR=11.018, 95%CI (5.611,21.635). Based on the personal assessment, the possible problems that can affect the sanitation and hygiene practice in the universities were lack of water and soap at hand washing facility. It was recommended that the management of university should ensure the availability of sanitation and hygiene facilities. Conclusion: This study revealed that sanitation and hygiene practices in public universities are remarkably poor. Despite the remarkable increase in the number of universities, the promotion of improved sanitary and hygiene facilities has been overlooked over the years. Therefore, a multi-level promotional intervention is needed to advance an enhanced, need-oriented, and effective sanitary and hygiene system that can promote improved hygiene and sanitary practices among university students. Key words: Sanitation and hygiene practice, Factors, Public University.