Spatial Analysis of Factors Responsible for Incidence of Water Borne Diseases in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

The high prevalence of cases of waterborne diseases in most cities in Nigeria is alarming.  In these cities, there is littledocumentation about the spatial variability of the incidence of the diseases.This study adopts GIS techniques to investigate the spatial variation of waterborne diseases in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Data for the study were acquired fromIKONOS satellite imagery and topographical map from which essential featureswere extracted using digital image processing techniques of Erdas Imagine 9.1 version.Structured questionnaire was also used to elicit information on households’socio-economic characteristics. Water samples were collected and analyzed usingstandard microbial and chemical methods. The microbial count, pH and waterhardness were interpolated using Krigging interpolation technique in ArcGIS9.3. The secondary data utilized for the study include land use data andreported cases of water borne diseases from health facilities. Geocodingtechnique of ArcGIS 9.3 was employed to match the addresses of the patientswith the cases of water borne diseases. The results showed that mostreported cases of water borne diseases were due to environmental factorsincluding poor environmental sanitation and topography. This implies that acontinuous negligence and under estimation of the role of these factors in thespatial spread of the water borne diseases may increase the vulnerability andhealth risk of the people in the area. The study recommends frequent treatmentof wells and boreholes, improved environmental sanitation and enhanced wastemanagement strategies.