Correlative Study on Environmental Determinants and Spread of Diseases

Haruna Adamu^1, and Nuru Abbas¹

¹Department of Environmental Management Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi-Nigeria

Cite this paper:
Haruna Adamu and Nuru Abbas. Correlative Study on Environmental Determinants and Spread of Diseases. Journal of Environment Pollution and Human Health. 2018; 6(1):38-44. doi: 10.12691/jephh-6-1-6

Abstract

Environmental characteristics, such as cleanliness of water supply, drainage system, waste management, toilet condition and dish-washing site, as well as environmental settings which encompasses population (congestion), vicinity of, dumpsite from source of water, residential premises from dumpsite, kitchen from dish-washing site and toilet from kitchen are determinants represented as more related proximately to spread of diseases. The study collected qualitative data using questionnaire and analysed respondents’ perception statistically on the correlation between the set environmental variables and spread of diseases in built environment. The respondents were sampled from among the residents of the areas investigated. Spearman correlation coefficient was used to explore the primary association between these environmental determinants and spread of diseases. A step-wise regression technique was used to fit the statistical models. The result indicates that the P-values correspond to the respective environmental variables are less than the level of significance (α = 0.05) in each case, which implies that there is positive and significant relationship between the set environmental determinants and environmental sanitary condition of the studied areas. On the other hand, the construct was statistically validated, as the instrument used found to be very satisfied since it measured what was intended for with approximately the same results on repeated times with different persons on different occasions and under different conditions (P < 0.05). Similarly, the reliability of the data extracted from the designed questionnaire was also statistically tested and reflected very closely the respondents’ perception upon the environmental qualities of the studied areas ascertained by Cronbarch’s Alpha far greater than 50%.

Keywords:
environment health sanitation urban planning and disease

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