Aliyu Alhaji A, Dahiru Tukur
Department of Community Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
Niger Med J. 2019 Jul-Aug;60(4):198-204. doi: 10.4103/nmj.NMJ_3_19. Epub 2019 Nov 25.
Stool disposal practices have been shown to be associated with childhood diarrhea. There exist variations in explanatory variables of safe child's faecal disposal practices depending on the context of the study. Thus, the need for this study to assess factors associated with safe disposal practices of children's faeces in Nigeria.
This study utilized the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data. Child's faecal disposal practice was classified as safe and unsafe as defined by the World Health Organization/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program. Binary and multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with safe faecal disposal practices. The analysis was restricted to a weighted sample of 19, 288 youngest children in the households.
Overall, the prevalence of safe disposal of child's faeces was 59.4%. Safe child's faeces disposal was the highest among older women (64.4%), highly educated women and their husbands (67.1%) and (66.4%), respectively; among rich households (72.3%), Muslim (68.7%), urban areas (68.8%), and in North West zone (78.4%). In multivariate analysis, safe faecal disposal was significantly associated with the age of mother, maternal education level, wealth index, religion, source of water, and type of toilet facility. Marital status, geopolitical zone, having diarrhea in the past 2 weeks before the survey and sex of the child were not significant determinants of safe faecal disposal practice.
Understanding the prevailing faecal disposal practices is a prerequisite to the formulation of effective intervention strategies. It is pertinent, therefore, that programs and interventions designed to improve safe child's faecal disposal practices need to take into consideration the factors identified in this study.
粪便处理方式已被证明与儿童腹泻有关。根据研究背景的不同，安全的儿童粪便处理方式的解释变量存在差异。因此，有必要开展本研究以评估尼日利亚与儿童粪便安全处理方式相关的因素。
本研究使用了2013年尼日利亚人口与健康调查数据。儿童粪便处理方式按照世界卫生组织/联合国儿童基金会联合监测计划的定义分为安全和不安全两类。采用二元和多元逻辑回归模型来确定与安全粪便处理方式相关的因素。分析仅限于对家庭中19288名最年幼孩子的加权样本。
总体而言，儿童粪便安全处理的普及率为59.4%。年龄较大的女性（64.4%）、受过高等教育的女性及其丈夫（分别为67.1%和66.4%）；富裕家庭（72.3%）、穆斯林（68.7%）、城市地区（68.8%）以及西北部地区（78.4%）的儿童粪便安全处理率最高。在多变量分析中，安全粪便处理与母亲年龄、母亲教育水平、财富指数、宗教、水源和厕所设施类型显著相关。婚姻状况、地缘政治区、调查前两周内是否腹泻以及孩子性别并非安全粪便处理方式的显著决定因素。
了解当前的粪便处理方式是制定有效干预策略的前提。因此，旨在改善儿童粪便安全处理方式的项目和干预措施需要考虑本研究中确定的因素。
