Awareness and Perception of Health Outcomes of Indiscriminate Refuse Disposal among Mothers of Children Aged 0–5 Years in Ifite Community, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: In Nigerian peri-urban communities, the gap between knowing that refuse causes disease and actually disposing of it safely is wide, persistent, and poorly understood at the local level. Mothers of young children sit at the centre of this problem: they handle household waste daily, they are the primary health gatekeepers for their children, and they bear the consequences — in illness, in medical costs, in reduced capacity to care — when the surrounding environment is insanitary. Ifite community, Awka, is one such setting. This study examines what mothers there know, what they believe, and what they do.

Objective: To assess the level of awareness and perception of the health outcomes of indiscriminate refuse disposal among mothers of children aged 0–5 years in Ifite community, Awka South Local Government Area (LGA), Anambra State, and to examine the relationships between awareness, perception, disposal practices, and child health outcomes.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was employed. A total of 390 mothers of children aged 0–5 years were recruited through multi-stage sampling. Data were collected using a structured, validated questionnaire (reliability coefficient = 0.82). Analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 29, employing descriptive statistics and chi-square tests at α = 0.05.

Results: Eighty percent of respondents were aware of health risks associated with poor refuse disposal, yet unsafe practices remained prevalent: open dumping (36.9%) and burning (25.1%) were the most common disposal methods. Only 23.6% used government-approved collection services. Malaria (44.1%) and diarrheal diseases (37.9%) were the most frequently reported illnesses among children. Chi-square analysis demonstrated statistically significant associations between awareness and disposal practices (χ² = 12.64, p = 0.005), perception of severity and child health outcomes (χ² = 15.21, p = 0.004), and refuse disposal practices and child health outcomes (χ² = 18.47, p = 0.001).

Conclusions: High awareness and serious risk perception exist in Ifite — but open dumping and burning remain the norm. The gap between knowing and doing is structural, not cognitive: there is nowhere safe to put the refuse, nobody collecting it, and no consequence for dumping it in the road. Closing that gap requires waste collection services, physical infrastructure, and enforced regulations — not more education delivered in the same vacuum.