Socio-environmental Vulnerabilities and the Recurrence of Dracunculiasis in Rural Area of Chad

Abstract

The issue of waterborne diseases, which has been at the center of scientific debate for several decades, is still relevant, especially in low-income countries. This paper garners sociological approaches to understand and explain the relationship between socio-environmental vulnerabilities, water management and the consequences of Dracunculiasis / Guinea worm disease in rural area of Chad. Data were collected from November 2019 to January 2020 in five (5) departments, namely: Aboudéia, Barh kôh Lac Iro, Loug-chari and Mayo Lémié. The following survey techniques were used: qualitative and quantitative, with instruments such as questionnaire, interviews, life stories and direct observations. SPSS version 25 software was used to process the quantitative data (n = 769). For the qualitative data (n = 50), data collected through the dictaphone was transcribed then analysed using content analysis. The study used the theory of social representations (Jodelet, 1989) to analyse the phenomenon. The results indicate that 90.51% of respondents in the endemic areas were aware of the Guinea worm disease. 64.29% of respondents stated that they did not have access to potable water. The results also indicate that 84.00% of respondents travel more than 10 km to access health facilities. The eradication of Dracunculiasis is fraught with multiple vulnerabilities, including economic, environmental, educational, and health-related, which the rural communities affected by this endemic face. In addition to these bottlenecks observed at the community level, institutional difficulties have also been noted, such as the unsmooth implementation of the multisectoral approach and the inefficiency of awareness-raising strategies. The disseminated of information by agents deployed in the field does not have a considerable impact. All these factors have contributed to the recurrence of Dracunculiasis/Guinea worm disease in several villages.