Browsing by Author "Niwagaba, Charles"

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    Comparative Analysis of Pesticide Use Determinants Among Smallholder Farmers From Costa Rica and Uganda
    (SAGE Publications, 2020-12) Staudacher, Philipp; Fuhrimann, Samuel; Farnham, Andrea; Mora, Ana M; Atuhaire, Aggrey; Niwagaba, Charles; Stamm, Christian; Eggen, Rik IL; Winkler, Mirko S
    Abstract Pesticides are used globally in agriculture and pose a threat to the health of farmers, communities, and the environment. Smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries have generally a low socio-economic status and educational level. Consequently, they are particularly vulnerable to negative impacts of pesticides on their health, yields, or land. In a Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices study, we compared the pest management practices between a market-oriented farming system in Zarcero County, Costa Rica, and a subsistence-based farming system in Wakiso District, Uganda. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among smallholder farmers from Costa Rica (n = 300) in 2016 and from Uganda (n = 302) in 2017. We enrolled conventional and organic farmers, but also farmers with mixed practices and non-applicators of any pest management strategy. We found that the majority of pesticides used in both case studies are classified as highly hazardous by the World Health Organization. While more than 90% of smallholder farmers from both countries were aware of the negative health effects of pesticide exposure, <11% in Costa Rica and <2% in Uganda reported using personal protective equipment every time they handled or applied pesticides. Hygiene and other safe use practices were not adopted by all farmers (<61%), especially among farmers applying more hazardous pesticides. Conventional farmers from Costa Rica (14%) and Uganda (19%) reported disposing pesticide residuals into rivers. Using a logistic regression we found that organic farmers were more likely to having been trained on safe pesticide use practices. Using a robust regression, we observed that smallholder household income was primarily driven by education and not directly by the use of synthetic pesticides. Our results suggest that negative effects of pesticides can be managed over the whole life cycle, from purchase, via storage and application to residual and waste management by fostering professionalization of farmers. We advise future safe use and handling interventions to consider the pesticide use-related socioeconomic and demographic findings highlighted in this paper.
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    Descending the sanitation ladder in urban Uganda: evidence from Kampala Slums
    (BMC public health, 2014) Kwiringira, Japheth; Niwagaba, Charles; Günther, Isabel; Atekyereza, Peter
    While the sanitation ladder is useful in analysing progressive improvements in sanitation, studies in Uganda have not indicated the sanitation barriers faced by the urban poor. There are various challenges in shared latrine use, cleaning and maintenance. Results from Kampala city indicate that, failure to clean and maintain sanitation infrastructure can lead to a reversal of the potential benefits that come with various sanitation facilities. Methods: A cross sectional qualitative study was conducted between March and May 2013. Data were collected through 18 focus group discussions (FGDs) held separately; one with women, men and youth respectively. We also used pictorial methods; in addition, 16 key informant interviews were conducted. Data were analysed using content thematic approach. Relevant quotations per thematic area were identified and have been used in the presentation of the results. Results: Whether a shared sanitation facility was improved or not, it was abandoned once it was not properly used and cleaned. The problem of using shared latrines began with the lack of proper latrine training when people do not know how to squat on the latrine hole. The constrained access and security concerns, obscure paths that were filthy especially at night, lack of light in the latrine cubicle, raised latrines sometimes up to two metres above the ground, coupled with lack of cleaning and emptying the shared facilities only made a bad situation worse. In this way, open defecation gradually substituted use of the available sanitation facilities. This paper argues that, filthy latrines have the same net effect as crude open defection. Conclusion: Whereas most sanitation campaigns are geared towards provision of improved sanitation infrastructure, these findings show that mere provision of infrastructure (improved or not) without adequate emphasis on proper use, cleaning and maintenance triggers an involuntary descent off the sanitation ladder. Understanding this reversal movement is critical in sustainable sanitation services and should be a concern for all actors.
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    Gender variations in access, choice to use and cleaning of shared latrines; experiences from Kampala Slums, Uganda
    (BMC public health, 2014) Kwiringira, Japheth; Atekyereza, Peter; Niwagaba, Charles; Günther, Isabel
    Sanitation is one of the most intimate issues that affect women, especially in slums of developing countries. There are few studies that have paid attention to the gender variations in access, choice to use and cleaning of shared latrines in slums. Methods: This paper draws on qualitative data from a cross sectional study conducted between 2012 and 2013 in six slums of Kampala City, Uganda. The study involved both women and men. Data were collected from 12 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), 15 Key informant interviews; community transects and photographs of shared latrines. Results: Location of a shared latrine facility, distance, filthy, narrow and irregular paths; the time when a facility is visited (day or night), privacy and steep inclines were gender ‘filters’ to accessing shared latrines. A full latrine pit was more likely to inhibit access to and choice of a facility for women than men. Results indicate that the available coping mechanisms turned out to be gendered, with fewer options available for women than men. On the whole, women sought for privacy, easy reach, self-respect and esteem, cleanliness and privacy than men. While men like women also wanted clean facilities for use; they (men) were not keen on cleaning these facilities. The cleaning of shared latrines was seen by both women and men as a role for women. Conclusion: The presence of sanitation facilities as the first step in the access, choice, use, and cleaning by both women and men has distinct motivations and limitations along gender lines. The study confirms that the use and cleaning of latrines is regulated by gender in daily living. Using a latrine for women was much more than relieving oneself: it involved security, intimacy and health concerns.
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    Inactivation Of Bacteria And Viruses In Human Urine Depending On Temperature And Dilution Rate
    (Water research, 2008) Vinnera, Bjorn; Nordin, Annika; Niwagaba, Charles; Nyberg, Karin
    Source separation and reuse of human urine can decrease the environmental pollution of recipient waters and reduce the need for artificial mineral fertilisers. However, the reuse of urine introduces another pathogen transmission route that needs to be managed. The inactivation of enteric pathogens and model organisms (Salmonella enterica subspecies 1 serovar Typhimurium (S. typhimurium), Enterococcus faecalis, bacteriophages S. typhimurium 28B, MS2 and Φ× 174) by urine storage was studied at dilutions (urine:water) 1:0, 1:1 and 1:3 at temperatures 4, 14, 24 and 34°C. A threshold concentration of ammonia was found at approximately 40mMNH3 (e.g. 2.1gNH3-NL−1 and pH 8.9 at 24°C), below which all studied organisms, except Salmonella, persisted considerably longer irrespective of treatment temperature, showing that urine dilution rate is of great importance for pathogen inactivation. For Salmonella spp. no threshold level was found in these studies (15mMNH3 lowest concentration studied). At temperatures below 20°C, bacteriophage reduction was very slow. Therefore, urine stored at temperatures below 20°C carries a high risk of containing viable viruses. The study indicated that the current recommended storage time for urine of 6 months at 20°C or higher is safe for unrestricted use and could probably be shortened, especially for undiluted urine.
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    Sanitation facilities in Kampala slums, Uganda: users' satisfaction and determinant factors
    (International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2013) Tumwebaze, Innocent Kamara; Orach, Christopher Garimoi; Niwagaba, Charles; Luthi, Christoph; Mosler, Hans-Joachim
    Access to improved sanitation is a key preventive measure against sanitaryrelated gastro-enteric diseases such as diarrhoea. We assessed the access to facilities and users’ satisfaction in 50 randomly selected slums of Kampala through a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010. A total of 1500 household respondents were interviewed. Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents used shared toilets, 20% private, 11% public toilets and less than 1% reported using flying toilets or practising open defecation. More than half of the respondents (51.7%) were not satisfied with their sanitation facilities. Determinants for satisfaction with the facilities used included the nature and type of toilet facilities used, their cleanliness, and the number of families sharing them. The study findings showed that slum dwellers had high access to sanitation facilities. However, most of them were shared and majority of the respondents were not satisfied with their facilities, primarily due to cleanliness and over demand.
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    Seasonal variations and shared latrine cleaning practices in the slums of Kampala city, Uganda
    (BMC public health, 2016) Kwiringira, Japheth; Atekyereza, Peter; Niwagaba, Charles; Kabumbuli, Robert; Kulabako, Robinah; Günther, Isabel; Rwabukwali, Charles
    Background: The effect of seasons on health outcomes is a reflection on the status of public health and the state of development in a given society. Evidence shows that in Sub-Saharan Africa, most infectious diseases flourish during the wet months of the year; while human activities in a context of constrained choices in life exacerbate the effects of seasons on human health. The paper argues that, the wet season and when human activities are at their peak, sanitation is most dire poor slum populations. Methods: A shared latrine cleaning observation was undertaken over a period of 6 months in the slums of Kampala city. Data was collected through facility observations, user group meetings, Focus group discussions and, key informant interviews. The photos of the observed sanitation facilities were taken and assessed for facility cleanliness or dirt. Shared latrine pictures, observations, Focus Group Discussion, community meetings and key informant interviews were analysed and subjected to an analysis over the wet, dry and human activity cycles before a facility was categorised as either ‘dirty’ or ‘clean’. Results: Human activity cycles also referred to as socio-economic seasons were, school days, holidays, weekends and market days. These have been called ‘impure’ seasons, while the ‘pure’ seasons were the wet and dry months: improved and unimproved facilities were negatively affected by the wet seasons and the peak seasons of human activity. Wet seasons were associated with, mud and stagnant water, flooding pits and a repugnant smell from the latrine cubicle which made cleaning difficult. During the dry season, latrines became relatively cleaner than during the wet season. The presence of many child(ren) users during school days as well as the influx of market goers for the roadside weekly markets compromised the cleaning outcomes for these shared sanitation facilities. Conclusion: Shared latrine cleaning in slums is impacted by seasonal variations related to weather conditions and human activity. The wet seasons made the already bad sanitation situation worse. The seasonal fluctuations in the state of shared slum sanitation relate to a wider malaise in the population and an implied capacity deficit among urban authorities. Poor sanitation in slums is part of a broader urban mismanagement conundrum pointing towards the urgent need for multiple interventions aimed at improving the general urban living conditions well beyond sanitation.