Role of Community Participation in Integrated Water Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) Programs in Supply of Accessible Safe and Clean Water to Households in Trans Nzioa, Kenya

Globally and regionally in Sub-Saharan Africa, accessibility to safe and clean water remains a cradle component to mediate the high demands for water. One water point center with quality safe, and clean water supply to population health and others in one health concepts of health around us, at the community health level. However, over 37% of the developing world’s population has limited access to affordable clean water. 2.5 billion Population health, have limited access to improved affordable basic sanitation and hygiene infrastructures. Over 780 million population health still have increased uptake of unsafe drinking water, associated with increased low uptake or access to quality hygiene and sanitation practices, Thus, contrary to the 8th ELEMENTS of primary health care PHC resolutions, passed in the WHO conference at Alma Ata Declaration in 1978. Which is one of the pillars of global health. Trans Nzioa County like many Counties in Kenya faces considerable challenges to accessing, affordable clean, and safe water and sanitation infrastructures and non-infrastructures, as one of the key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sustainable goals and universal coverage target objectives on Primary Prevention better than cure. The County has four Sub counties namely Bondeni, Suwerwa, Kaplamai, and Waitaluk, which are blended with inadequate access to affordable safe clean water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices at the lower Community households, which, kill and sicken vulnerable cohorts in the wide burden of diseases, in society, specifically women, adolescence and under-fives children. Who majority spend 4–5 times per day, fetching water from unprotected springs, rivers, or boreholes and thus, are overwhelmed with various health risks of the burden of water-related communicable diseases. It was these reasons that led to the study Role of community participation in integrated Water Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) programs in the Supply of Accessible Safe and Clean Water to Community Households in Trans Zioa County to enable the sustainability of structures, through synergistic partnership of the National Government of Kenya, County government of Transnzioa, in partnerships with kind Development partners mainly WHO, UNICEF, USAID and UN-Habitat, to form integrated water resource management programs, for supplying accessible and affordable safe and clean water to its community households, to prevent control water-related communicable diseases. Descriptive Cross-sectional and triangulation designs of mixed research methods were used in data collection. A sample size of 297 respondents participated. Purposive, census, and quota sampling techniques were adopted, using sampling frames of community households in each Division with limited access to safe and clean water services. Structured questionnaire tool was utilized in quantitative surveys, Key Informant Interviews (KII) guides, Focus Group Discussion, (FGD) guides were used, Qualitative interviews to discuss themes into saturations to achieve the values of findings, using triangulation design. Data was statistically managed by MS Excel and SPSS version 27. Analysis was by cross-tabulation of descriptive and inferential statistics, to measure central tendency, and dispersion respectively. Results showed secondary attained households are critical for efficient implementation of safe and clean water supply compared to primary attained households, male participation in water issues was minimal (41%). Accessibility to safe water from one source, by the majority of residents,’ remains low (30 %). Hand washing after visiting latrine is still low (43%). However, the majority of households (88%) utilized latrines. Global health participation in the integrated programs was 37% in the County. Need for more grants and well-wishers for Public Private Provision programs in water resource management, and also policies put in place, to increase male involvement in community participation in integrated accessibility of safe and clean water supply to community households, Water Sanitation and Hygiene WASH programs in Trans Nzioa County is timely required due to their limited involvement as noted in the study.