Abstract:
The realization of the scale, magnitude, and complexity of the water and sanitation
problem at the global level has compelled international agencies and national
governments to increase their resolve to face the challenge. There is extensive
evidence on the independent effects of urbanicity (rural-urban environment) and
wealth status on access to water and sanitation services in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, our understanding of the joint effect of urbanicity and wealth on
access to water and sanitation services across spatio-temporal scales is nascent.
In this study, a pooled regression analysis of the compositional and contextual
factors that systematically vary with access to water and sanitation services over
a 25-year time period in fifteen countries across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was
carried out. On the whole, substantial improvements have been made in
providing access to improved water sources in SSA from 1990 to 2015 unlike
access to sanitation facilities over the same period. Households were 28.2 percent
and 125.2 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources in
2000e2005 and 2010e2015 respectively, than in 1990e1995. Urban rich
households were 329 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources compared with the urban poor. Although access to improved sanitation
facilities increased from 69 percent in 1990e1995 and 74 percent in 2000e2005
it declined significantly to 53 percent in 2010e2015. Urban rich households
were 227 percent more likely to have access to improved sanitation facilities
compared with urban poor households. These results were mediated and
attenuated by biosocial, socio-cultural and contextual factors and underscore the
fact that the challenge of access to water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa is
not merely scientific and technical but interwoven with environment, culture,
economics and human behaviour necessitating the need for interdisciplinary
research and policy interventions.
