Improving Community Sanitation and Hygiene Performance in Kerwa Sub County through the Application of Statistical Thinking
Kizito Omona · Texila international journal of public health · 2018
Introduction: Sanitation refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces whereas Hygiene is a set of personal practices that contribute to good health.It includes things like hand-washing, bathing and so forth.Objectives: The purpose and rationale of this project was to improve sanitation and hygiene in Kerwa Sub county.Methods: The project (2years) employed both qualitative and quantitative mixed designs in Kerwa Sub county, located, in Yumbe district, Uganda.Implementation period was from April, 2015 to November, 2016.Results: The total number of households with latrines increased from 775 (43.3%) in the baseline to 1215 (67.8%) in the first year of project implementation then to 1579 (88.2%) in the second year.Similarly, open defecation dropped from 56.7% in the baseline to 32.2% in the first year of project implementation and further to 11.8% in the second year.Hygiene status, measured using hand washing, almost remained the same between baseline and first year of project implementation at about 0.9%.It significantly improved to 20.8% in the second year.Through application of statistical thinking, final reporting time reduced by 60 days, from 210 days before statistical thinking approach to 150 days after the application.Conclusion: Statistical thinking remains a key process of continuous quality improvement in any industry.