Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene Conditions and Health Outcomes among Two Settlement Types in Rural Far North Cameroon

Abstract

The Far North region in Cameroon has been more heavily impacted by cholera than any other region over the past decade, but very little has been done to study the drivers of waterborne diseases in the region. We investigated the relationship between water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) parameters, microbial and antibiotic resistance (AR) contamination levels in drinking water, and health outcomes using health survey and molecular analysis during June and July of 2014 in two settlement types (agro-pastoralist villages and transhumant pastoralist camps). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to determine fecal contamination sources, enteric pathogens, and antibiotic resistance genes. Ruminant-associated fecal contamination was widespread in both settlement types (81.2%), with human-associated contamination detected in 21.7% of the samples. Salmonella spp. (59.4%) and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (stx1 44.9% and stx2 31.9%) were detected across all samples. Tetracycline resistance was found only in village samples. A significant difference in diarrheal incidence within the past 28 days among young children was found between camps (31.3%) and villages (0.0%). Our findings suggest that water contamination may play an important role in contributing to gastrointestinal illness, supporting the need for future research and public health intervention to reduce gastrointestinal illness in the area.

Occurrence of norovirus infection in an asymptomatic population in Indonesia

“…In addition, one of the causes of the high prevalence of Nov infection in this study or in the community in Cameroon in the previous report may have been that diarrhea is endemic in both Indonesia and Cameroon (Gorham et al, 2017).…”

Assessment of bacteriological quality of groundwater from boreholes in Maroua (Far North Cameroon)

“…In Maroua, as in many cities of Cameroon, people use several types of water supplies according to their income. The households with higher incomes have access to potable water from taps whereas the poor (majority) are forced to get drinking water from public or private boreholes, wells, and even from streams and rains (Gorham et al, 2017). Leaning on organoleptic criteria and their localization in soil, these households think that borehole waters are drinkable and free from contamination (unpublished data).…”

Comparative Study Between Gender Bias in Household Water Conservation and Management in Commune of Pelengana

“…In rural Mali, the amount of water consumed by women is more twice that of men. Domestic activities are the main cause of such water consumption by women, as it has been proved in many low-income countries that women are the principal stakeholders in the daily activities of households, namely Algeria (Akli & Bedrani 2014), Ghana (Akuffo et al, 2013), Cameroon (Tyler et al, 2017), and Nigeria (Oloruntoba et al, 2014). As a result, women's views about the management and conservation of water resources must imperatively be taken into consideration.…”

“…2015). In rural Cameroon, inhabitants used 5 liters per day and per capita prior and 15 liters per day and per capita after the installation of community taps (Tyler et al, 2017). Designed water supply capacity frequently does not respond the growing request for water.…”