Armah Frederick Ato, Ekumah Bernard, Yawson David Oscar, Odoi Justice O, Afitiri Abdul-Rahaman, Nyieku Florence Esi
Department of Environmental Science, School of Biological Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Nature Today, P. O. Box OS 1455, Osu-Accra, Ghana.
Heliyon. 2018 Nov 16;4(11):e00931. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00931. eCollection 2018 Nov.
The realization of the scale, magnitude, and complexity of the water and sanitation problem at the global level has compelled international agencies and national governments to increase their resolve to face the challenge. There is extensive evidence on the independent effects of urbanicity (rural-urban environment) and wealth status on access to water and sanitation services in sub-Saharan Africa. However, our understanding of the joint effect of urbanicity and wealth on access to water and sanitation services across spatio-temporal scales is nascent. In this study, a pooled regression analysis of the compositional and contextual factors that systematically vary with access to water and sanitation services over a 25-year time period in fifteen countries across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was carried out. On the whole, substantial improvements have been made in providing access to improved water sources in SSA from 1990 to 2015 unlike access to sanitation facilities over the same period. Households were 28.2 percent and 125.2 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources in 2000-2005 and 2010-2015 respectively, than in 1990-1995. Urban rich households were 329 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources compared with the urban poor. Although access to improved sanitation facilities increased from 69 percent in 1990-1995 and 74 percent in 2000-2005 it declined significantly to 53 percent in 2010-2015. Urban rich households were 227 percent more likely to have access to improved sanitation facilities compared with urban poor households. These results were mediated and attenuated by biosocial, socio-cultural and contextual factors and underscore the fact that the challenge of access to water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa is not merely scientific and technical but interwoven with environment, culture, economics and human behaviour necessitating the need for interdisciplinary research and policy interventions.
全球层面水与卫生问题的规模、程度和复杂性已促使国际机构和各国政府增强应对这一挑战的决心。有大量证据表明，在撒哈拉以南非洲地区，城市化程度（城乡环境）和财富状况对获得水与卫生服务具有独立影响。然而，我们对城市化和财富在不同时空尺度上对获得水与卫生服务的联合影响的理解仍处于起步阶段。在本研究中，对撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）15个国家在25年时间里与获得水和卫生服务系统变化相关的构成因素和背景因素进行了汇总回归分析。总体而言，与同一时期的卫生设施相比，1990年至2015年期间撒哈拉以南非洲地区在提供改善水源方面取得了显著进展。与1990 - 1995年相比，家庭在2000 - 2005年和2010 - 2015年获得改善水源的可能性分别高出28.2%和125.2%。城市富裕家庭获得改善水源的可能性比城市贫困家庭高出329%。尽管获得改善卫生设施的比例从1990 - 1995年的69%和2000 - 2005年的74%有所增加，但在2010 - 2015年显著下降至53%。城市富裕家庭获得改善卫生设施的可能性比城市贫困家庭高出227%。这些结果受到生物社会、社会文化和背景因素的调节和削弱，强调了撒哈拉以南非洲地区获得水和卫生设施的挑战不仅是科学技术问题，还与环境、文化、经济和人类行为相互交织，这就需要进行跨学科研究和政策干预。
