Data from: Barriers to access improved water and sanitation in poor peri-urban settlements of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Achieving access to safe water and sanitation still pose major challenges
in urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa countries, despite all the progress
achieved in the last decade. This study assessed the ability of
populations living in poor peri-urban settlements to access improved water
and sanitation and identified factors influencing this access, in order to
guide sustainable mitigating solutions to address associated health and
environmental risks. We conducted a cross-sectional study in six poor
peri-urban settlements of Yopougon, the largest municipality of Abidjan. A
total of 556 randomly selected households were included. The factors
associated with access to improved water and sanitation were identified
through explanatory models using multivariate logistic regression. A
proportion of 25% of all households assessed did not have access to clean
water and 57% lacked improved sanitation. Socioeconomic status and
settlement characteristics appear as the main indicators of poor access to
reliable water and sanitation in peri-urban settlements. The presence of
the household head’s wife at home was associated with greater access to
clean water (OR = 3.57; 95% CI: 1.74, 7.31), thus highlighting the
important role of women in ensuring access to clean water in these
specific environments. Household size, education and religion were not
significantly associated with the two considered outcomes. Women therefore
should be involved at all levels of programming in water promotion in
these settlements to improve the population’s well-being. While religion
does not appear to play an important role in access to water and
sanitation, successful interventions should involve religious communities
because of their large representation.