ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF INAPPROPRIATE DOMESTIC WASTE

MANAGEMENT AMONG RESIDENTS OF KA WANG WARE SLUM NAIROBI

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

A WARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

BY SAINA VALERIE J.

(H32/8575/03)

LEVEL IV

SUPERVISED BY,

MR. WAITHAKA P.M, BscN, MPH (U.O.N)

LECTURER,

SCHOOL OF NURSING SCIENCES,

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

SEPTEMBER 2007

D"ECLARA TION

I, Valerie Saina, declare that the undersigned research proposal is my original work and has

not been presented for award of degree or diploma in any university.

~\J.,-;;-;~;./Signature~ .

3cl' Avoos+ "\00,Date '0 / .

II

SUPERVISOR AUTHORITY

This research proposal has been presented for examination for the degree of Bachelor of

Sciences in Nursing of the University of Nairobi with my approval as University supervisor.

Signature .

?C)~ A;UG· 'LeJo+Date .

Mr. Waithaka P.M, BScN MPH (U.O.N)

Lecturer,

School of Nursing Sciences,

University of Nairobi

III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to acknowledge my lecturers at the School of Nursing Sciences, Colleges of Health

Sciences, and University of Nairobi for the effort they have put in helping me develop my

academic career. Were it not for them, this work would not have been possible. You are all

great!

I also wish to acknowledge my supervisor Mr. Peter M. Waithaka for always guiding me all

along in writing this research proposal.

Last but not the least, I wish to acknowledge my family especially my mum and Dad for their

financial and moral support and my friends particularly Elijah Leshao for their

encouragement and help which they offered willingly.

May God bless you all.

IV

DEDICATION

To my late brother, my lovely mama and family.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION 11

SUPERVISOR AUTHORITy III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IV

DEDiCATION V

TABLE OF CONTENTS VI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .IX

DEFfNITION OF TERMS X

ABSTRACT XI

CHAPTER 1 1

1.0 BACKGROUND fNFORMA TION I

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT 2

1.2 STUDY QUESTIONS 4

1.3 STUDY OBJECTIVES .4

1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDy 5

1.6 VARIABLES FRAMEWORK 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVI EW 7

2.0 SITUATION IN AMERICA 7

2.1 SITUATION fN ASIA 8

2.3 SITUATION IN EUROPE I0

2.4 SITUATION fN AFRICA 10

VI

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGy 13

3.0 STUDY DESIGN 13

3.1 STUDY AREA 13

3.2 STUDY POPULATION 14

3.3 SAMPLfNG 14

3.3.0 SAMPUNG UNIT 14

3.3.1 SAMPLING 15

3.3.1.0 SAMPLfNG METHOD 15

3.3.1.1 SAMPLE SIZE DETERMfNATION 15

3.3.2 fNCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CR1TER1A 16

3.4 DATA COLLECTION 17

3.4.0 DATA COLLECTION TOOL 17

3.4.1 ENUMERATORS: SELECTIONS AND TRAINING OF INTERVIEWERS 17

3.4.2 TOOL PRETEST 18

3.4.3 TOOL IMPLEMENTATION 18

3.5 CONTROL OF BIASES AND ERRORS 18

3.6 ETHICAL LEGAL ISSUES 19

3.7 STUDY UMITATIONS 20

3.8 DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION 21

:3.8.0 DATA ENTRY AND CLEANING 21

3.8.1 DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS 21

3.9 REFERENCES 22

VII

APPENDICES

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 24

LETTER FOR SEEKING AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT A RESEARCH

STUDY IN KAW ANGW ARE SLUM NAIROBI, KENY A.31

LETTER TO ETHICS AND RESEARCH COMMITTEE.. . 33

LETTER TO THE LOCAL AUTHORITY (CHIEF) SEEKING APPROV AL 34

CONSENT EXPLANATION. . . '" 35

RESPONDENT CONSENT FORM. ..36

BUDGETING FOR TIME 37

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES '" 39

FINANCIAL BUDGET FOR THE STUDY '" 40

MAP OF NAIROBI 41

VIII

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

AMREF

BScN

CSARO

MSW

NCC

NGOs

SPSS

WHO

African Medical and Research Foundation.

Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Community Sanitation and Research Organization.

Municipal Solid Waste.

Nairobi City Council.

Non Governmental Organizations

Statistical Packages for Social Sciences.

World Health Organization.

IX

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Aesthetic: Pleasing to look at, concerned with beauty and appreciation.

Environment: Refers to all living and non living things that make up our surroundings.

Biological, physical, cultural, socioeconomic and political environment.

Contamination: Make something impure by adding substances that are danzerous or carryt:> •

Disease.

Domestic waste: Include kitchen waste, paper, Chinaware; spray cans, furniture, house

ware and electrical appliances.

Garbage: Waste material especially domestic waste.

Instruments: Interview schedules for collecting information from participants.

Receptacle: Container in which something is placed or stored.

Recycling: Recovery of materials from products after they have been used by

Consumers.

Re-use: To use something again.

Sanitation: Hygienic disposal or recycling of waste as well as protecting health

through hygienic measures.

Solid waste: Unwanted remains, residue, discarded materials or by-products which are

no longer required by the initial user.

Waste: Something which the owner no longer wants at a given place and time

which has no current perceived market value.

Waste management: Is the collection, processing, transport and disposal of wastes.

x

ABSTRACT

Poor management of domestic waste leads to poor sanitation which predispose communities

to sanitation related diseases as well as environmental pollution.

This is a cross - sectional descriptive survey that seeks to asses the impacts of inappropriate

domestic waste management among residents of Kawangware slums, Nairobi Kenya.

The study will be conducted in Kawangware slum which is situated 10 km west of Nairobi

city centre. Data will be collected in some randomly selected villages in Kawangware slums

which are as follows: Msalaba, Congo, Kanugaga, Katina, Muslim and Coast.

The data collection tool will be an interview schedule containing demographic data,

knowledge, attitude and practice. The participants will be required to be as truthful as

possible. Ten research assistants will be selected from third year in the School of Nursing

Sciences to assist in Data collection.

The study will be conducted in duration of about 26 weeks and at an estimate cost about

Ksh.600, 000.

XI

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Nairobi is increasingly becoming urbanized, it is estimated that in the coming two decades,

the number of persons living in the city will have doubled from 1.3 million to 2.6 million

(Munyoki, 1990). Solid wastes being produced in Kenya today has increased in amount,

complexity resulting in associated environmental and public health problems. Waste

collection, handling and disposal services are inadequate thus people have resorted to

dumping wastes in any space available as a result, heaps of garbage are seen in various parts

of the city and more so in slums (Munyoki, 1993).This dumps are unsightly and pose serious

health problems to human beings and the environment. This is also reflected in the Agenda

21 of the RlO declaration on environment and protection which states in chapter 21 that ...

"rapidly growing quantities of solid wastes poses threats not only to human health but also to

the environment" (Munyoki, 1990).

Waste management is important for both the health of the public aesthetic and environmental

reasons. Poor waste management poses serious threats to the health and environment. Health

hazards are caused by insects, rodents and contamination. Ninety percent of flies breed on

urban. refuse and are mechanical transmitters of diseases like cholera, dysentery and

diarrhoea (Rukonga, 200 I). Mosquitoes breed inside containers during rainy seasons and

spread diseases like malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, filariasis, Rift Valley fever among

others. Rodents for example rats breed in accumulation of refuse and transmit diseases like

plague, typhus, and leptospirosis. Wind blown refuse can be a source of surface water

pollution while leaching may bring about ground water pollution. Aesthetic considerations

regarding solid wastes include unsighty environment and offensive smells during

decomposition (Rukonga, 200 I).

Previous studies have shown that, in developing countries, basic sanitation IS a major

concern; this encompasses waste management especially in poor urban and informal

settlements where most of these communities live in overcrowded settlements and poor

living conditions. The growing urban population poses a great challenge to sanitation

provision for government authorities in many developing countries (Makoni et ai, 2004).

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Poor management of domestic waste is the major concern since it is a major contributor to

sanitation related diseases as well as environmental pollution.

Poor sanitation related diseases are the greater cause of deaths than global conflicts, an

estimated 600,000 children in· developing countries die from more than 50 communicable

diseases associated with poor sanitation every year. Current statistics about health risks in yd

world countries have demonstrated that, the urban poor are worse than rural. Incidences and

prevalence of diseases in informal settlements where sanitation services are inadequate and

non existing are higher than middle and high income residential areas. The population most

affected is the poor in the slums (Black, 1994).

Studies done in South America show that there has been increasing generation of domestic

wastes (0.5-1.0 kg/person/day). There has been a problem which is improper disposal of

2

wastes from industries that pose serious problems to health Out of 70% of garbage collected

in cities, only 30% is disposed off correctly leading to poor sanitation in the shanty town,

lack of access to clean water risking numerous waterborne diseases like amoebiasis, cholera,

hepatitis, typhoid among others (Joyce S, 1997)

Studies done in Zimbabwe showed that, its towns and cities experience problems with access

to basic sanitation There is lack of solid waste disposal facilities resulting in households

resorting to refuse pits Sanitation related diseases especially diarrhoeal diseases was the

most prevalent and related to sanitation Eye diseases, bilharzias and dysentery were also

common (Makorii et al, 2004)

Nairobi generates over 1600 tons of solid wastes per day, over 60% being organic

(recyclable). It harbours a population of greater than 23 million people due to urbanization

It is the most densely populated city in East Africa Strong environmental legislation

(Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act 1999) and the Nairobi City Council by-

laws is on hooks, there is evident non-existent enforcement, inadequacy of municipal

collection and lack of public awareness regarding disposal of wastes Households openly

dump garbage. Municipal and local authorities are responsible for solid waste management

(collection, administration and enforcement) Though public and private entities engage in

garbage collection, only 20-40% of Nairobi's solid waste is collected daily leaving 60-80%

collection deficit The uncollected wastes find its way to dumpsites, the Nairobi City Council

( CC) department has limited resources and is unable to track illegal dumpers rendering

waste management negligible