Factors associated with Prevalence of typhoid fever among residents of Kasanvu zone - Namuwongo, Makindye division Kampala district.

Abstract

This study was out to investigate on the factors associated with the prevalence of typhoid fever among the residents of Kasanvu zone, Namuwongo, Makindye division, Kampala district. Broadly the objective was to establish factors associated with the prevalence of typhoid fever among residents of Kasanvu zone- Namuwongo, Makindye Division, Kampala District. A cross sectional, descriptive study was carried out utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collecting to get data for the study. A probabilistic procedure using simple random sampling was used to select 150 respondents for the study. Purposively, the key informants were selected and interviewed to get the qualitative data. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS Version 16.0 Out of the 150 respondents who participated in the study, 61.3% were female, 46.7% had low levels of education and , 60% had informal occupational status. It was found out that personal hygiene practices were poor among the respondents with 58.7% not washing hands regularly after visiting the latrine, 54.7% not using soap regularly to wash hands after visiting the latrine and 78% not keeping their nails short regularly. Food safety practices was also found to be poor among the respondents with 50.7% not serving their food hot 61.3% not covering cooked food and 42% did not wash their utensils immediately after use. The study revealed that 91.3% of the respondents did not have latrines, 98.7% did not have a rubbish pit and 84% disposed off their waste water into the trench. Of the 150 respondents, 44% had ever suffered from typhoid fever and 72.7% had someone in the family who had suffered from typhoid fever. The factors associated with prevalence of typhoid fever in Kasanvu zone can be linked to poor personal hygiene practices such as; not washing hands regularly after visiting the latrines, not using soap to wash hands after visiting the latrines and not keeping nails short regularly among others. Insufficient food safety practices such not serving food hot, not covering cooked food, not washing utensils immediately after use and hanging washed utensils on the ground. Environmental factors such lack of latrines, lack of a rubbish pit. And Health system factors such as lack of health education about typhoid fever, lack of readily available drugs, and no evaluation of patience by the health workers. The District Directorate of Health services in Kampala district should strengthen health education, collaborate with water and sanitation departments so as to teach the community good water and sanitation practices, identify organizations that deal with food safety practices and have them on board to sensitize and teach the community food storage and safety. The local leaders such as LC (I-V) and the religious leaders should put much emphasis on good personal hygiene practices and good sanitation at large so as to reduce the potential factors associated with prevalence of typhoid fever in Kasanvu zone, Namuwongo.