Cholera outbreaks in Chegutu, Zimbabwe: unravelling the influence of community factors

Past studies showed that there were environmental factors related to cholera outbreaks, but less work focused on the community’s knowledge, experiences, and hygiene practices in spreading cholera. The objectives of this study were to (1) identify the Chegutu community's knowledge, experiences, and hygiene practises; (2) determine the significant differences between the Chegutu community's background on knowledge, experiences, and hygiene practises related to cholera; (3) analyse the factors of knowledge, experiences, and hygiene practises leading to cholera outbreaks; and (4) develop a comprehensive model for the prevention of cholera outbreaks in the Chegutu community. A total of 383 respondents from the Chegutu community of Zimbabwe participated in this study’s survey. The descriptive analysis found that the level of knowledge and hygiene practices to prevent cholera were low among the Chegutu community. Most respondents (80%) experienced cholera symptoms and had neighbours who also experienced the same. The ANOVA analysis showed that the community’s backgrounds (education level, marital status, income, water source, and residential area) and hygiene practices in contributing to the cholera cases were significant. On hygiene practices, it was found that washing hands after handling waste or garbage bins was a significant factor. Risky practices to cholera outbreaks were no handwashing before preparing food (2%), no hand washing after using the toilet (2%), no fruit washing (19 %) and not boiling untreated water (19%). Theoretically, this study contributed to the use of The Knowledge, Experiences and Hygiene Practices Model in studying the context of the Chegutu community’s background in contributing to the outbreak of cholera. From a practical point of view, the findings from this study contributed to the prevention model built for future epidemic prevention recommendations, where the community needs improvement in the aspects of knowledge, experience, and hygiene practices. Cholera prevention, control, and elimination in communities like Chegutu should be aided by the promotion and facilitation of access to adequate water supply, awareness, application of new models discovered during the study period, improving health infrastructure, and ensuring that the community's experience is used to avoid disease outbreaks.