Latrine coverage and associated factors among rural communities in Cambodia. Case study from the Kampong Chnang Province.
Helena Humňalová, Přírodovědecká fakulta Univerzity Karlovy
Abstrakt_EN
Despite its great importance in health and wellbeing, sanitation has been for a long time at the bottom of the international development attention. Still more than 2,4 billion people have limited access to basic sanitation services, of these 946 million defecate in the open (WHO, 2016). Lack of basic sanitation is closely related to the transmission of water borne diseases and contamination of water sources and soil. Water-related diseases are the second leading cause of death in children under five (WHO & UNICEF, 2015). Poor sanitation contributes to malnutrition in children, reduced resistance to infections and when prolonged, to impaired physical and cognitive growth and development as well as school readiness and performance (Sclar et al., 2017; WHO & UNICEF, 2015). Moreover, there is growing understanding that lack of access to improved sanitation impacts on psychological stress, increases women’s vulnerability and deepens the poverty (House & Cavill, 2015).
Although the main risks associated with inadequate sanitation are related to health and health was being used in most interventions as a motivator for behaviour change, various studies approved that people do not adapt toilets only because of preventing health risks but because of other motivations such as prestige, urban lifestyle, power relations, privacy, security or comfort (Gross & Gutner, 2014; Jenkins & Curtis, 2005; O’Reilly & Louis, 2014; Routray et al., 2015). Reflection of this knowledge led to the shift in approach from supply driven to more demand driven sanitation interventions arguing that low demand is one of the causes for the failure of sanitation initiatives (Evans 2005; Jenkins and Sugden 2006; O’Reilly & Louis, 2014). In addition, the latrine ownership is folded in other diverse factors such as wealth, education, occupation, life stage, gender, number of children, physical and social composition of the village, village proximity and road connectivity, local leaders attitudes towards sanitation, social norms etc. (Admassie et al.; 2009; Jenkins & Scott, 2007; O’Reilly & Louis, 2014). The complexity of potential underlying factors illustrates that there is a wide range of factors which needs to be considered for increasing access to sanitation facilities as well as improving the long term sustainability of sanitation programs in developing countries.
The main aim of this paper is to explore sanitation situation in rural areas of Cambodia and factors influencing sanitation behaviour and its adoption. The history of sanitation interventions in rural areas of Cambodia is explored, as well as an assemblage of factors that influence adoption of latrines is outlined. The research disclosed that latrine adoption and latrine use are deeply embedded in various determinants which intersect/intertwine with and create a number of complex interrelationships with poverty, local perception and practice, and physical environment.
he research was institutionally and financially supported by the Czech organisation People in Need (PIN) and was conducted in February, March, and April, 2012.
Helena Humňalová, Univerzita Karlova, Přírodovědecká fakulta, helena.humnalova@natur.cuni.cz
HUMŇALOVÁ, H. (2016) „Latrine coverage and associated factors among rural communities in Cambodia. Case study form the Kampong Chnang Province“. Evaluační teorie a praxe 4(2): 35–59