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Assessment of Children Health Condition of Urban Slum Area: a Case Study on Khulna Municipality, Bangladesh

Sayka Jahan
Dept. of Environmental Science and Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

Tamanna Rahman Urba
Dept. of Environmental Science and Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The present study is an attempt to reveal the health condition and the accessibility of the selected basic services of the slum children of Khulna city. A qualitative interpretative approach was followed to analyze the data gathered through multi-method data collection approaches consisting of observation, structured questionnaire surveys, and informal interviews inside and outside the community. A total of 400 households with 200 respondents (100 parents and 100 children) were interviewed through a random sampling method and a few focus group discussions were organized to get a real and detailed present and the past picture of the study area. Information on socioeconomic background, facilities of basic services, condition of children’s health, education, sanitation practices along other facilities such as medical facilities were collected. In the study area, only 10% of children can complete their secondary school certificate and the others deprive because of poverty and unconsciousness. There is very limited access to safe drinking water supply and sanitation facilities in slum areas. Moreover, the children are living in an unhygienic and overpopulated environment for a long time. Although 100% latrine is pucca (i.e., constructed by brick and cement materials) in the study area, most of the children’s feces are disposed of in open spaces. Hand washing practices are also not proper among children where only 60% of children use soap after defecation and 5% of children use soap before taking a meal. That’s why the children are suffering from frequent waterborne diseases. The highest affecting disease is diarrhea (40%). From the study results, it is also found that parents in the slum are not enough knowledgeable about child health care. Although various non-government organizations and government organizations are trying to solve the urgent problems in order to achieve millennium development goals

Keywords: Water supply, Sanitation, Health facility, Hygienic condition, Khulna City Corporation, Urban slum

Location: Khulna City but also in other urban areas of Bangladesh.

Start Date: 00-00-1992

End Date: 00-00-1999

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Commodity: Livelihood

Objectives:

To observe the present health condition of slum children, to observe access to pure drinking water and sanitation services, and to find out disease pattern and access to health facilities by slum children.

Methodology:

In spite of relevant attempts made by different nations to improve the conditions of the urban poor that are living in slums and squats the quality of life has yet to be improved. The case in Bangladesh is a good example of this. Khulna, the third-largest metropolitan city of Bangladesh, is no exception to this scenario. Geographically Khulna is located at 22º 49’N latitude and 89º 4’E longitudes and occupies an area of about 46 sq. km. Presently the Khulna City Corporation (KCC) is composed of 31 wards with a population density of 180 persons per hector. Khulna gained its formal town status after the establishment of the municipality in 1884 and in 1961 it became the headquarters of the Khulna division. During the late 1950s and 1960s, this divisional headquarter became an important center of industrial development. In the late 1980s and early 1990s with the establishment of Khulna University and Khulna Medical College, Khulna gained additional impetus for further socioeconomic and physical development. A study by Mortuza (2000) shows that there are 172 slums located all over Khulna city. During 1992 - 1999 the average annual population growth rate was 7.3 percent compared to 1 percent during 1976. At present 13 % of the city’s population live in slum areas in which about 3.5% are children. Being the regional center of the south-western part of Bangladesh the slum population of Khulna city is expected to increase with the rate of urbanization. There is an urgent need to pay adequate attention to improve the living environment of the children of slum areas, which will ultimately contribute to Khulna’s sustainable development for the future.

Data collection and analysis: To conduct the study two types of data sources are utilized, the first is primary data, i.e., field surveys conducted by the authors during 2014 in the selected slum area of Khulna city. The second data source is secondary materials, relevant to the study. A qualitative interpretative approach was followed to analyze the data gathered through multi-method data collection approaches consisting of observation, structured questionnaire surveys, household case history, and informal interviews inside and outside the community. The study slum, namely Purabari slum, Peoples slum, Cresent slum, Alamnagar Slum, and Khema Slum have a total of 400 households with 200 respondents(100 parents and 100 children) were interviewed through a random sampling method and a few focus group discussions were organized to get a real and detail present and the past picture of the study area. Information on: (1) Socio-economic background, (2) Facilities of basic services, (3) Condition of children’s health, education, sanitation practices along with other facilities such as medical facilities was collected. The data analysis was divided into two parts, the first was the analysis and an accurate phenomenon that was observed has been developed. The second part of the analysis focused on the interpretation of the collected data. This approach was complemented by insights gained from simple quantitative analysis, for example, frequencies and cross-tabulation. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data analysis was used to grasp a better understanding of the real picture that exists in the study area.

Source of Information: Journal of Molecular Studies and Medicine Research - Vol. 01, Issue 01: 41-47, 2015

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Problems with slums and squatters are a common phenomenon not only in Khulna City but also in other urban areas of Bangladesh. For the last few decades, the growth of the urban population is extremely high. This is due to the high migration rate of rural to urban areas as well as the natural increase of population. The major cities of the country contain a large number of slums and squatter settlements where the large portions of the urban population are living who often overlooked by the legal authority in the case of their basic needs. The study results represent that more than half of the total slum children are malnourished due to poverty. The slum dwellers even do not get pure and sufficient drinking water facilities, only 44% of people get their drinking water from the deep tube-well and almost 29% of people get their drinking water from the shallow tube-well, and 27% people get their drinking water from the supply water. That is why the most common and frequent disease among children is diarrhea, dysentery and other water-borne diseases. Again more than 44% of parents dispose of their children's fecaes into open spaces and in a water body, which is another important reason for frequent water-borne diseases among slum children. Hand washing practice is also another reason for this. In the study area, only 60% of children wash their hands with soap after defecation and only 5% of children wash their hands with soap before taking a meal. Lack of awareness among parents often enhances all the health-related problems of children in slum areas.

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