Linking poverty with water and sanitation in targeting households for achieving sustainable development

Abstract

AbstractThe study determined the association of access to safe water and the type of toilet facilities versus household characteristics in the Philippines. Data from the Department of Science and Technology Food and Nutrition Research Institute consisting of 39,771 respondents were included in the analysis. Cramer's V was used as a statistical tool to determine the association of toilet facility versus the access to safe water, water source, and whether the toilet is shared or not. Additionally, multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the type of toilet facility with other household characteristics. Meanwhile, a Classification and Regression Tree was used to classify the type of toilet facilities based on access to safe water, water sources and a wealth quintile. Statistically, the result showed that there is a high association among the variables mentioned. The study concludes that access to sanitation such as the type of toilet facility per household, is highly associated with water sources and access to safe water. Furthermore, there is a need to provide means of access to sanitation among the poorest households. To reduce the inequalities in these services, the decision rule presented in this study can be a guiding principle in providing such intervention.