Cargando…

Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India

In countries without adequate access to improved sanitation, government-imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic can impact toilet usage. In India, where millions have recently transitioned to using a toilet, pandemic-related barriers to use might increase open defecation practices. We asse...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ashraf, Sania, Kuang, Jinyi, Das, Upasak, Bicchieri, Cristina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7646818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32996450
http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0830
_version_ 1783606854109102080
author Ashraf, Sania
Kuang, Jinyi
Das, Upasak
Bicchieri, Cristina
author_facet Ashraf, Sania
Kuang, Jinyi
Das, Upasak
Bicchieri, Cristina
author_sort Ashraf, Sania
collection PubMed
description In countries without adequate access to improved sanitation, government-imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic can impact toilet usage. In India, where millions have recently transitioned to using a toilet, pandemic-related barriers to use might increase open defecation practices. We assessed changes in reported defecation practices in peri-urban communities in Tamil Nadu. Field assistants conducted phone surveys in 26 communities in two districts from May 20, 2020 to May 25, 2020. They asked respondents about their access to a toilet, whether they or a family member left their house to defecate in the past week, and whether specific practices had changed since the lockdown. Among 2,044 respondents, 60% had access to a private toilet, 11% to a public or community toilet, whereas 29% lacked access to any toilet facility. In our study, 92% of the respondents did not change their defecation behaviors in the 2 months following the pandemic-related lockdown. About a third (27%) reported that they or a family member left their house daily to defecate amid lockdown measures. A majority of those with private toilets (91%) or with public toilets (69%) continued using them. Respondents with private toilet access were more likely to report an increased frequency of handwashing with soap (prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.04–3.05) since the lockdown. The lack of private toilets contributes to the need to leave the house amid a lockdown. Maintaining shared toilets require disinfection protocols and behavioral precautions to limit the risk of fomite transmission. Robust urban COVID-19 control strategies should include enhanced sanitation facility management and safe usage messaging.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7646818
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-76468182020-11-17 Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India Ashraf, Sania Kuang, Jinyi Das, Upasak Bicchieri, Cristina Am J Trop Med Hyg Articles In countries without adequate access to improved sanitation, government-imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic can impact toilet usage. In India, where millions have recently transitioned to using a toilet, pandemic-related barriers to use might increase open defecation practices. We assessed changes in reported defecation practices in peri-urban communities in Tamil Nadu. Field assistants conducted phone surveys in 26 communities in two districts from May 20, 2020 to May 25, 2020. They asked respondents about their access to a toilet, whether they or a family member left their house to defecate in the past week, and whether specific practices had changed since the lockdown. Among 2,044 respondents, 60% had access to a private toilet, 11% to a public or community toilet, whereas 29% lacked access to any toilet facility. In our study, 92% of the respondents did not change their defecation behaviors in the 2 months following the pandemic-related lockdown. About a third (27%) reported that they or a family member left their house daily to defecate amid lockdown measures. A majority of those with private toilets (91%) or with public toilets (69%) continued using them. Respondents with private toilet access were more likely to report an increased frequency of handwashing with soap (prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.04–3.05) since the lockdown. The lack of private toilets contributes to the need to leave the house amid a lockdown. Maintaining shared toilets require disinfection protocols and behavioral precautions to limit the risk of fomite transmission. Robust urban COVID-19 control strategies should include enhanced sanitation facility management and safe usage messaging. The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2020-11 2020-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC7646818/ /pubmed/32996450 http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0830 Text en © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Articles
Ashraf, Sania
Kuang, Jinyi
Das, Upasak
Bicchieri, Cristina
Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India
title Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India
title_full Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India
title_fullStr Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India
title_full_unstemmed Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India
title_short Sanitation Practices during Early Phases of COVID-19 Lockdown in Peri-Urban Communities in Tamil Nadu, India
title_sort sanitation practices during early phases of covid-19 lockdown in peri-urban communities in tamil nadu, india
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7646818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32996450
http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0830
work_keys_str_mv AT ashrafsania sanitationpracticesduringearlyphasesofcovid19lockdowninperiurbancommunitiesintamilnaduindia
AT kuangjinyi sanitationpracticesduringearlyphasesofcovid19lockdowninperiurbancommunitiesintamilnaduindia
AT dasupasak sanitationpracticesduringearlyphasesofcovid19lockdowninperiurbancommunitiesintamilnaduindia
AT bicchiericristina sanitationpracticesduringearlyphasesofcovid19lockdowninperiurbancommunitiesintamilnaduindia