Perceived causes of food-borne disease among residents of Ilorin West Local Government Area, Kwara State.
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Abstract
The poor state of food hygiene and safety, coupled with poor sanitation practice, have led to outbreak of food-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, dysentery and so on. This study examined perceived causes of food-borne diseases among residents of Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State. The study also aimed at determining the influence of poor food hygiene, inadequate food knowledge and dirty cooking environment on incidence of food-borne diseases among residents in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State. The study adopted descriptive research design of the survey type. The study population comprised all the residents of Ilorin West Local Government, estimated to be about 365,221. The main instrument used for the study was the researchers' structured questionnaire adequately validated by experts from Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education; and Epidemiology and Community Health in University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The reliability of the research instrument was ascertained with the use of test re-test method in which a reliability correlation coefficient of 0,75 was obtained. Three (3) hypotheses were formulated and tested for the study. The data generated for the study were analyzed with the use of chi-square statistical method. The findings from the test of hypotheses revealed that poor hygiene practice caused food-borne diseases among residents of Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State; inadequate food safety knowledge cause food-borne diseases among residents of Ilorin West Local Government area of Kwara State; dirty cooking environment caused food borne diseases among the residents. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the local government through its health workers, should mount heavy campaigns on the need to ensure good personal hygiene practice by the residents; government should organize workshop/symposia to educate the residents on how to ensure food safety; it is also recommended that environmental health officers and sanitarians should endeavour to carry out regular house-to-house inspections to ensure good cooking environments.
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Keywords
Perceived, Causes, Food-borne diseases, Residents