Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Sanitation Among Women of Reproductive Age at Badbado Camp, Dharkenley District, Mogadishu-Somalia

More than 1 billion people are lacking access to an adequate water supply and 2.6 billion people are without access to proper sanitation services. Diarrheal diseases are also the third cause responsible for increased morbidity rates in all age groups in Indonesia. In 2008 Sub-Saharan Africa the diarrhea was the leading cause of death among children under 5 years, resulting in 19% of all deaths in this age group. The Corburn and Hildebrand also found that women with reproductive age are limited or no access to toilet predominantly suffered from diarrheal diseases, a leading cause of under nutrition among women during their reproductive age. This study was to determine the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of sanitation among women of reproductive age at Badbado Camp in Dharkenley district Mogadishu, Somalia. Methodology: The study adopted across sectional, descriptive quantitative and qualitative research approach. The target populations were women of reproductive age living in the study area. Convenient sampling technique was used to recruit the 379 study participants. Semi- structured questionnaires and focus group discussion were employed in data collection. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 24, while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: It was observed that 55.8% of the participants were aware that prevention activities are crucial aspects towards diseases spread and 44% of participants were not attentive that prevention activities are important for public health measures. Similarly, 357 (93.5%) participants reported that they normally practice hand hygiene. The 23 (6.1%) participants reported that they burnt their solid waste while 2 (0.5%) respondents stated that they bury their waste product. Conclusion: This study observed that almost three quarter of the participants had never got any information related to sanitation. Therefore, there is a need to build enough latrines for IDP setting in order to achieve free open defecation environment and the relevant authorities should set up waste collection stations and disposal sites in the study area to improve sanitation status.