AN APPRAISAL OF DRINKING WATER SOURCES AND WATERBORNE DISEASES AMONG CHILDREN IN NANKANA SAHIB CITY, PUNJAB

Abstract

Access to safe potable water supplies is a fundamental human right and essential for a healthy living. The present studywasan attempt to assess the association of drinking water sources and resulting waterborne diseases among the children of Nankana Sahib city, Punjab, Pakistan. A total of 440 householdsfrom the study areawere surveyedduring July2014 to October 2014. The collected data was analyzed by chi-squaretest to find out the relationship between waterborne diseases and sources of drinking water.The results showed that bore water (62.5 %) and public supply (22.05%) were the main drinking water sources. Diarrhea (40.4%) and Gastroenteritis (23.5%)were the most common diseases. 59.6% and 29.4% waterborne infections were found among those using water and public supply for drinking purpose.The results for chi-square revealed strong association between drinking water sources and waterborne infections.It was concluded thatuse of boiled water and improvedsanitation conditions can reduce theprevalence and incidence of waterborne diseasesamong children.