Residents’ Environmental Health Awareness in a Traditional City: Lessons from Osogbo, Nigeria

Abstract

Human activities within the environment have led to an increase in the number of environmental health challenges recorded in recent times. Accordingly, this study examined a significant aspect of environmental crisis: residents’ environmental health awareness. The study focused on the traditional city of Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. Data were obtained via questionnaire administered to 198 residents, who were systematically sampled from the three residential zones (65 from the core zone, 67 from the transition zone and 66 from the suburban zone) of the city. The data analyzed involved frequency distributions, Chi-Square and ANOVA.According to the data obtained, majority of the respondents were young adults between ages 31 and 45 (52.5%). Also, 40.9% of therespondents were males, while majority were females (59.1%). Majority of the respondents earned between N70,000 and N149,999 (55.0%). It was found that level of awareness varied throughout Osogbo, with, most respondents being very aware of the listed environmental health measures based on the Relative Importance Index generated from the responses. Equally varying across the city was the level of effectiveness of environmental health measures that can engender positive environmental health responses, asonly 6 out of the 13 existing measures were rated to be very effective by the respondents.Thus, this study recommends that environmental health bodies utilize approaches that may be suitable for each residential zone. This approach will raise awareness about environmental health among residents and enhance their understanding of environmental health. Furthermore, individuals, community-based organizations and the government should work together to provide environmental health facilities, as this will elicit more positive responses from residents.