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COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements

Host to one billion people around the world, informal settlements are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 lockdown measures as they already lack basic services such as water, toilets, and secure housing. Additionally, many residents work in informal labor markets that have been affected by the lockdow...

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Autores principales: Joshi, Nupur, Lopus, Sara, Hannah, Corrie, Ernst, Kacey C., Kilungo, Aminata P., Opiyo, Romanus, Ngayu, Margaret, Davies, Julia, Evans, Tom
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier Ltd. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9258418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35930847
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115191
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author Joshi, Nupur
Lopus, Sara
Hannah, Corrie
Ernst, Kacey C.
Kilungo, Aminata P.
Opiyo, Romanus
Ngayu, Margaret
Davies, Julia
Evans, Tom
author_facet Joshi, Nupur
Lopus, Sara
Hannah, Corrie
Ernst, Kacey C.
Kilungo, Aminata P.
Opiyo, Romanus
Ngayu, Margaret
Davies, Julia
Evans, Tom
author_sort Joshi, Nupur
collection PubMed
description Host to one billion people around the world, informal settlements are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 lockdown measures as they already lack basic services such as water, toilets, and secure housing. Additionally, many residents work in informal labor markets that have been affected by the lockdowns, resulting in further reductions in access to resources, including clean water. This study uses a cross-sectional design (n = 532) to examine the vulnerabilities of households to employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices during the COVID-19 lockdowns between April and June 2020 in three informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. We used survey questions from the Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale (HWISE) to investigate the relationship between employment and business disruptions, water access, and hygiene practices (i.e., hand washing, body washing, clothes washing, and being able to use or drink clean water). Of the sampled households, 96% were forced to reduce work hours during the lockdowns, and these households had 92% lower odds of being able to afford water than households who did not experience a work hour reduction (OR = 0.08, p < .001). Household challenges in affording water were likely due to a combination of reduced household income, increased water prices, and pre-existing poverty, and were ultimately associated with lower hygiene scores (Beta = 1.9, p < .001). Our results highlight a compounding tragedy of reduced water access in informal settlements that were already facing water insecurities at a time when water is a fundamental requirement for following hygiene guidelines to reduce disease burden during an ongoing pandemic. These outcomes emphasize the need for targeted investments in permanent water supply infrastructures and improved hygiene behaviors as a public health priority among households in informal settlements.
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spelling pubmed-92584182022-07-07 COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements Joshi, Nupur Lopus, Sara Hannah, Corrie Ernst, Kacey C. Kilungo, Aminata P. Opiyo, Romanus Ngayu, Margaret Davies, Julia Evans, Tom Soc Sci Med Article Host to one billion people around the world, informal settlements are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 lockdown measures as they already lack basic services such as water, toilets, and secure housing. Additionally, many residents work in informal labor markets that have been affected by the lockdowns, resulting in further reductions in access to resources, including clean water. This study uses a cross-sectional design (n = 532) to examine the vulnerabilities of households to employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices during the COVID-19 lockdowns between April and June 2020 in three informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. We used survey questions from the Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale (HWISE) to investigate the relationship between employment and business disruptions, water access, and hygiene practices (i.e., hand washing, body washing, clothes washing, and being able to use or drink clean water). Of the sampled households, 96% were forced to reduce work hours during the lockdowns, and these households had 92% lower odds of being able to afford water than households who did not experience a work hour reduction (OR = 0.08, p < .001). Household challenges in affording water were likely due to a combination of reduced household income, increased water prices, and pre-existing poverty, and were ultimately associated with lower hygiene scores (Beta = 1.9, p < .001). Our results highlight a compounding tragedy of reduced water access in informal settlements that were already facing water insecurities at a time when water is a fundamental requirement for following hygiene guidelines to reduce disease burden during an ongoing pandemic. These outcomes emphasize the need for targeted investments in permanent water supply infrastructures and improved hygiene behaviors as a public health priority among households in informal settlements. Elsevier Ltd. 2022-09 2022-07-06 /pmc/articles/PMC9258418/ /pubmed/35930847 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115191 Text en © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Joshi, Nupur
Lopus, Sara
Hannah, Corrie
Ernst, Kacey C.
Kilungo, Aminata P.
Opiyo, Romanus
Ngayu, Margaret
Davies, Julia
Evans, Tom
COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements
title COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements
title_full COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements
title_fullStr COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements
title_short COVID-19 lockdowns: Employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in Nairobi's informal settlements
title_sort covid-19 lockdowns: employment and business disruptions, water access and hygiene practices in nairobi's informal settlements
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9258418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35930847
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115191
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