Association between malnutrition and some water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) factors among school children in Gombe State, Nigeria

The state of the environment in which we live and certain hygienic practices we indulge in has been known to affect our nutritional status. This study was aimed at examining the association between malnutrition and some selected water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices among school children in Gombe State Nigeria. A cross sectional survey was conducted between March and June, 2019. A total of 745 pupils were selected from 12 public and 6 private schools across 6 LGAs in Gombe state, using multi-stage sampling technique. Anthropometric measurements of heights and weights of the study participants were done using standard instruments and procedures. Other relevant data (age, sex, some environmental variables etc) were collected using a structured template. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 21 and key variables were presented using descriptive statistics, while associations were tested using Chi square. Odd ratio (OR) was used to estimate risks of malnutrition among the subjects and p-value was set at 0.05. The pupils had a mean age of 9.96±2.26 years, 50.9% of whom were males the rest being females. Though 84.6% of them had toilets in their residences not all of them (98.6%) put them to use. A good proportion (79.1%) dispose their refuse by dumping and slightly more than half of them (51.7%) have access to pipe borne water. And though only two (method of refuse disposal and source of drinking water) out of the eight WASH variables studied were found to be associated with underweight (Composite indicator of malnutrition), all the eight variables were found to be associated with stunting (chronic malnutrition). Overall, 20.8% and 22.4% of the subjects were underweight and stunted, respectively. The foregoing raises a germane concern about the role of WASH in malnutrition among school children and the need for a comprehensive and sustainable school feeding programme in the state and country at large. There should also be an integration of a WASH component in all nutrition intervention programmes.