Water insecurity among rural households of West Cameroon: lessons learned from the field

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess and compare water access and sanitation-related behaviors with self-reported water insecurity among women. The cross-sectional study involved household observations and in-person interviews with women living in rural areas of West Cameroon (n = 134). Water insecurity was prevalent with 37% of women having affirmative responses to the statement ‘being worried about household not having enough water.’ Only 7% of the women reported having any water source (well/pump) in the household compound, and water insecurity was more common among those who did not have an ‘on premise’ water source (p = 0.038). Additionally, women walking more than 10 minutes to reach the water source were more insecure than their counterparts (p = 0.022). Amount of water stored at home was lower in water insecure households (37.07 liters) compared to secure households (58.93 liters, p = 0.042). Sanitation rate was low in the study area, with 20% of women reporting open defecation for their children. Water insecurity is associated with long distance to water source and limited water availability at the household level. Future research is needed to understand the association between water insecurity and daily water intake and related dietary behaviors.

A Qualitative Examination of Water Access and Related Coping Behaviors to Understand Its Link to Food Insecurity among Rural Households in the West Region in Cameroon

“…All three discussions took place in a private setting on different days and were conducted in French by the primary author fluent in the language. The results of previous research conducted in the study area [22,23] and water access-related literature were used to develop the discussion guide. In alignment with the study objectives, the FGD was divided into two sections: (1) water access, its management, and daily water use; and, (2) changes in behavior and strategies used at the household level to manage limited water access.…”

“…The triangulation strategy was used involving different data collection techniques (FGD vs. KII) and different individuals analyzing the data. The authors also used observations and results of the previous research [22,23] in the study area in order to validate the data of the current study.…”

Development of water insecurity scale for rural households in Cameroon- Central Africa

“…Based on the findings from previous water access-related studies conducted in the study area [ 25 , 26 ] and existing household water insecurity scales literature [ 6 ], questions for the FGDs were designed.…”

Measuring Human Water Needs

“…A wide range of locally‐grounded scales have emerged to measure household water insecurity following Wutich's first household water insecurity scale in Cochabamba, Bolivia (Hadley & Wutich, ; Wutich, ; Wutich & Ragsdale, ). Locally‐grounded water insecurity scales have been developed in sites in many low‐ and middle‐income countries including: Ethiopia (Stevenson et al, ), Nepal (Aihara, Shrestha, Kazama, & Nishida, ) Palestine's West Bank (Galaitsi et al, ), Uganda (Tsai et al, ), South Africa (Bulled, ), Jamaica (Lester & Rhiney, ), Bolivia's Amazon region (Rosinger, ), Kenya (Boateng et al, ), and Cameroon (Nounkeu & Dharod, ). For use in high‐income countries, the only known household water insecurity scale is Jepson's scale, developed for colonias in Texas, US (Jepson, ; Jepson & Vandewalle, ).…”