Water quality, WASH, and gender: differential impacts on health and well-being in Abeokuta City, Nigeria

Abstract

It is often assumed that humans experience the effect of poor water quality like multiple health and socioeconomic impacts in the same way. But these impacts are not gender-neutral due to inequalities caused by physiological composition, age marginalization, and socioeconomic conditions, among others.We analyzed the intersections between water quality and gender and applied a mixed-method approach in collecting local-speci c data and information. The assessment shows that without point-of-use water treatment, the water sources in the area are not safe for potable purposes, as the waters are hard in the sequence of borehole > surface water > hand-dug well > sachet water, with elevated levels of calcium (> 75mg/L) and not free from microbial contamination. Among the area population segments, men and boys (relative to women and girls) are more susceptible (55%) to the compounding health effects associated with the hardness and high calcium concentration in water. Girls are the most affected by the associated impacts of water collection. Men and boys are more vulnerable to the consequences of poor hygiene, while women are more susceptible to the health effects of toilet cleaning and sharing of sanitation facilities. Though most women and girls prefer disposable sanitary pads, women change more frequently and practice better menstrual hygiene than girls. We conclude that there are differential impacts of unsafe water, WASH services, and practices on human health. Gendered statistics through sex-disaggregated data is crucial to unmasking the differential impacts, which are neither gender-neutral nor evenly distributed between women and men, and boys and girls.

Unmasking the Unseen: The Gendered Impacts of Water Quality, Sanitation and Hygiene

“…Abeokuta exhibits myriad attributes shared by most cities in Nigeria. These include limited access to groundwater resources owing to the underlying crystalline basement complex, inadequate municipal water provisions due to factors like insufficient funding, and underutilization and an uneven distribution of healthcare facilities throughout the city (G. Oluwasanya et al, 2023).…”

“…3Where HI is the non-carcinogenic hazard index, Rfd (the chronic oral reference dose) is an estimate of a daily oral exposure level for the human population, including sensitive subpopulations, that is likely to be without an appreciable The overall assessment framework (Appendix III) is a 5-step approach describing the process of assessing differential impacts of poor water quality from method design to the field activities, which include water sampling and laboratory analysis, public survey, and health data collection, to the data and gender analysis. Using this framework with the detailed information on the study method and analytical components also in (G. Oluwasanya et al, 2023), it should be possible for professionals in water, climate, gender, health and related disciplines and sectors to assess site-specific gendered impacts of unsafe water.…”

“…In addition, the initiative calls for expanding scientific monitoring of sex-disaggregated data in the water domain to uncover the often-ignored or strategically dismissed linkages between water and gender for effective and fit-for-purpose management of water resources based on their quality. This report presents the key findings from the study [18] , outlining a framework and guidance for examining genderspecific impacts stemming from poor water quality and WASH practices through a piloted case study in Abeokuta City, Nigeria, to serve as a preliminary guide for conducting comprehensive, site-specific assessments. The piloted assessment framework is a 5-step approach, guiding the evaluation of gendered impacts from method design to the field activities, which include water sampling and laboratory analysis, public survey, and health data collection, to the data and gender analysis, hoping it will equip professionals across water, climate, gender, health, and related disciplines and sectors with the tool to assess location-specific gendered impacts of unsafe water.…”