Safe Drinking Water Practices among the Households in Rural Field Practice Area of a Medical College: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Drinking water and sanitation are the door way to health which is the pre-requisite for progress,social equity and human dignity to improve the quality of life of people. Limited access to safe drinking waterand poor sanitation can lead to under nutrition, water borne diseases, vector borne diseases and neglected tropicaldiseases.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 261 households of Singanodi Village which is the ruralfield practice area of Navodaya Medical College, Hospital & research centre, Raichur.The investigator had visitedand interviewed each household and conducted face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire whichincludes Socio- Demographic features and information on hygienic practices of water.Results: In this study majority of the households(69%) did not practice any water purification methods. 77.4%of the participants practiced hand-washing with soap and water after defecation. 90.4% of the households cleanthe water storage vessels daily. Significant association was found between diarrheal diseases with distance to getwater, water purification methods and hand washing with soap and water after defecation.Conclusions: This study reinforces the importance of health education which plays an importance role in theprevention of water borne diseases.