Abstract

Environmental faecal contamination is the defecation on the ground or failure to dispose faeces into the latrine; it could be because of lack of latrines or even a deliberate shunning of latrines. This contamination is a worldwide problem that is perhaps exercabating parasitic neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).The vice enables the lifecycle of parasitic zoonoses like taeniasis which is associated with neuro-cysticercosis (NCC) in the pig raising communities where primitive methods of free ranging are used. This cross-sectional study was made to assess the estimated human faecal density as an indicator of poor sanitation and latrine coverage in Soroti district of Uganda. Approximated transects of varying areas were made in which global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of faecal heaps along walk ways were recorded. Latrines and faeces that were observed in the selected homesteads of the approximated transects were also recorded. Faeces were seen around houses and latrines; the latrine coverage was 46% which is far below 90% required to achieve good sanitation; however observing large faecal heaps near latrines indicated possible deliberate shunning of latrines even where latrines were available. Some faeces possibly end up in the water sources if not eaten by the scavenging pigs making the communities vulnerable to many diseases. If latrine coverage is not campaigned with a per capita approach and applied just as latrine per homestead then it still remains ineffective against poor sanitation. In places were primitive habits of eluding latrines are still practiced; just having a good latrine coverage is not enough to guarantee good sanitation. There is need for a realistic sensitization and demystification about all faeces.

Key words: Faeces, Latrine, pig

Abbreviation

NCC, Neuro-cysticercosis; NGO, Non-governmental organization; MDGs, millennium development goal; NTD, neglected tropical diseases; UTM, universal transverse mercator; GPS, global positioning system; Km², Square kilometer.