Reporting of the core indicators on drinking water and sanitation from urban slums of Jammu: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) play an important role in decreasing the morbidity and mortality associated with poor WASH practices. Poor knowledge and awareness lead to an increase in communicable diseases. OBJECTIVE: To assess and report the core indicators on sanitation and drinking water from urban slums using standardized WHO and UNICEF questionnaires. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY: The present observational cross-sectional study was conducted for 2 months i.e., from September 2019 to October 2019 in urban slums of Trikuta Nagar, a field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, GMC Jammu. Information was gathered from the head of the household as well as from other household members. About 50% of the population were selected randomly by lottery method i.e., 450 and consist of 112 households. However, at the time of the study, only 100 households were assessed because of the nonavailability of household members and some houses were locked at the time of the interview. RESULTS: The study revealed that nearly 62% of families were of a joint type and most of the families were headed by male members. Around 82.5% of the slum members used water for drinking from improved source but only 21.5% of the household members used adequate water treatment method i.e., boiling. Besides, about 49.5% of the household members used improved sanitation facilities. CONCLUSION: Local administration needs to accelerate the process of supplying piped water connections to the underserved to improve their drinking water sources and also increase access to basic sanitation services at the household level.