ASSESSING ACCESS TO SANITATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS

Pupils spend a long time at school, where improved water, sanitation and hygiene services can improve health by decreasing diseases, such as diarrhea, respiratory infections, and soil-transmitted helminths. Recent studies showed that improved school WASH services have a positive influence on decreasing illnesses; for instance, in beneficiary schools, diarrhea was 29% lower. Symptoms of respiratory infections were 25% lower than in comparison schools. The aim of the study: to assess the access to the sanitation in rural schools. Material and methods: the study was carried out using the face to face interview with the administration of the school, observation checklist, and a questionnaire for the pupils. Results and discussion: 13.3% of pupils reported that the toilets are locked, and the key is not available in the schools. 20.5% of students reported the absence of separation of toilets by gender. 46.4% of them were girls. Additionally, 29.5% of students characterized as a problem of the separation absence by gender. 57.1% of them were female. 20.23% of pupils reported that the youngest pupils could not use the toilet without any help. Conclusions: analyzing the situation, we can conclude that access to sanitation is provided in schools, unfortunately, the conditions of their maintenance are ignored.

sanitation, access, assessment, schools, rural areas

1. A cluster-randomized trial assessing the impact of school water, sanitation and hygiene improvements on pupil enrolment and gender parity in enrolment /J. V. Garn, L. E. Greene, R. Dreibelbis et al. //Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development. - 2013. - V. 3 (4). - P. 592-601.

2. Ezbakhe F. Estimating access to drinking water and sanitation: The need to account for uncertainty in trend analysis /F. Ezbakhe, A. Perez-Foguet //Science of the Total Environment. - 2019. - V. 696. - 133 -139.

3. IAEG-SDGs. Final list of proposed Sustainable Development Goal indicators //Report of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, Annex IV. -Geneva, 2016. - 562 p.

4. Sanitation and health /D. Mara, J. Lane, B. Scott, D. Trouba //PLoS Medicine. - 2010. - V.7. - P. 672-683.

5. The impact of a school-based hygiene, water quality and sanitation intervention on soil-transmitted helminth reinfection: A cluster-randomized trial /M. C. Freeman, T. Clasen, T. S. Brooker et al. //American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. - 2013. - V. 89 (5). - P. 875-883.

6. Tussupova K. Access to drinking water and sanitation in rural Kazakhstan /K. Tussupova, P. Hjorth, R. Berndtsson //International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - 2016. - V. 13. - P. 456-462.

7. Water, sanitation and hygiene for the prevention of diarrhoea /S. Cairncross, C. Hunt, S. Boisson et al. //International Journal of Epidemiology. - 2010. - V. 39. - P.193-205.

8. Water, sanitation and hygiene interventions for acute childhood diarrhea: A systematic review to provide estimates for the Lives Saved Tool /N. Darvesh, J. K. Das, T. Vaivada et al. // BMC Public Health. - 2017. - V. 17. - P. 231-238.