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WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE FACILITIES, HEALTH CARE COST AND HEALTH SEEKING BEHAVIOR IN URBAN SLUMS OF HYDERABAD, PAKISTAN

Imdad Ali, Ubed Ur Rehman, Najeebullah, Jamil Ahmed, Aneela Yasmin

The cities in the developing world acquiring inadvertent and uncontrolled squatter settlements at their peripheries owing to swift escalation in population, coupled with the apparently irretrievable stream of people from rural to urban areas. These areas can be termed as Slums and apparently carry a high burden of communicable diseases. Since they are mobile populations, they general population is at a great risk. Present study aimed to explore water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in urban slum settlements of Hyderabad city and to identify the prevalence of waterborne diseases, healthcare costs and further to assess their health-seeking behaviors. Seventeen slum locations were identified using district social map. A structured questionnaire was designed and validated. The questionnaire included socio-demographic indicators, information on Water Sanitation and Hygiene facilities and related diseases, their health-seeking behavior and healthcare costs. Three households from each slum area were selected through simple random sampling and household head was considered as most relevant person for the interview. Total 51 households were interviewed and water samples were also collected from each household to analyze for fecal contamination. The analysis divulges that the majority (68%) of the population is using groundwater. Fecal contamination was found in 99% of the water samples, which is apparently the largest reported cause of diarrhea (56%). Majority of the respondents don’t have toilet available in their house premises (51%). Therefore, they use any community toilet or practice open defecation (21%). Despite of wobbly source of income, slum dwellers were spending 20% of their monthly income for the treatment of diseases. Our findings revealed statistically significant association (p<0.05) between level of education and availability of toilet facility, health care cost and their health seeking behavior.

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