Abstract:
Background: The Republic of Rwanda has made efforts to supply water to the community in the whole country but people living in Kigali, the capital city, still experience water shortage. This study aimed to determine the linkage between water shortage, sanitation and hygiene practices among the community of Nyarugunga Sector.
Methodology: A cross- sectional study design was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The sample size was 182 households and participants were selected by simple random sampling. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of key informants and focus group discussion participants.
Results: The results revealed that 96.7% of the surveyed households experience water shortage in their premises and 30.5% of households fetch water from swamps when the main water source is not functioning. The study further shows that people whose piped water from WASAC is present less than 1 time per week are 15 times more likely to suffer from water related diseases compared to those who have water at least once per week (OR=14.9, 95% CI:1.9-114.7, p=0.001). Households which don‟t always have clean water at the place for hand washing are almost 10 times more likely to suffer from some water related diseases than those who always have water at the place of hand washing (OR=9.97, 95% CI:2.9-33.7, p<0.001). People who skip washing hands when water is not available are 7 times more likely to suffer from some water related diseases than people who wash hands regularly (OR= 7.5, 95% CI: 3.7-15.1, p<0.0001.The factors contributing to water shortage in Nyarugunga Sector are increased water demand, few water points, weather patterns, pipelines damage, and insufficiency of water infrastructure. The main strategy that must be taken into consideration to address water shortage is the increase of the water supply in Nyarugunga Sector.
Conclusion: From a public health perspective, this study revealed that the majority of respondents (96.7%) experience water shortage in their households. The increase of water supply is needed so as to reduce the risk of water related diseases and to promote good health.
