Abstract:
Majority of the disease
outbreak in developing countries have
been attributed to contaminated water
with children being the worst hit.
Therefore, this study analyzed the effect
of water sources on the health status of
children under the age of 5 years in
Ifelodun Local Government Area of
Kwara State, Nigeria. Primary data was
obtained through the use of semistructured
interviews; 150 households
with at least one child under five years
were interviewed however; only 146
questionnaires were completed and found
valid for analysis. The data was subjected
to descriptive statistics, such as pie chart,
bar charts. The results show that majority
(58.2%) of the children were males. Also,
most (83.5%) of the children were infants,
i.e. within the age range of 0-2 years.
Most (96%) of the households had access
to improved water sources of which
protected dug well is the most accessible.
Many (42%) of the households reported
that they experience periods of water
shortage, this explains why water washed
diseases (disease associated with poor
hygiene in the face of water scarcity) was
the most predominant diseases reported
among the children with 70 reported
cases. These were closely followed by the
water related insect vector diseases with
64 reported cases and then water borne
diseases with 48 reported cases. Water
based diseases rarely occurred in the
study area. This study, therefore,
recommends that effort should be geared
towards provision of safe water all year
round for the farming households. Also,
insecticide treated nets should be made
available for the children in the farming
households so as to prevent insect bites.
