Latrine Utilisation and Associated Factors in Southern Ethiopia: Evidence from Selected Households in Holte Town, Ethiopia

Abstract

Globally, over 2.5 billion people are still without access to improved sanitation. Almost a third of the world’s population suffers on a daily basis from a lack of access to a clean and functioning toilet. People are obliged to defecate in the open due to a lack of toilet facilities. Poor usage of latrines and excreta disposal are contributing factors to a high number of morbidity and mortality, especially among under-five children. Health improvement comes from proper sanitation facilities, not simply because of their mere physical presence. Therefore, this study assessed latrine utilisation and associated factors among households in Holte town of Derashe, especial Woreda, southern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 356 households using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and checklist. An SPSS software Version.23 was used for analysis, and descriptive statistics and association among factors were finally calculated. From total respondents, 316 (88.76%) were using Latrine for 24 hours (good utilisation), 29 (8.1%) daily and the remaining 11 (3.0%) rarely (poor utilisation). Family members in each household were identified as using Latrine together. From the study respondents who have under-five children, 189 (53.1%) of the households do not allow their children to use Latrine. In conclusion, there is somewhat good latrine utilisation but poor hand washing practice after visiting Latrine in the study area. So, strengthening health information dissemination, appropriate technical support, and multi-sectorial collaboration should be key factors to improve the proper utilisation of latrines and handwashing practices.