Water and Sanitation

Shared toilets were consistently associated with higher within-settlement healthcare use across all settlements. Water access had strong associations with within-settlement healthcare use. Households taking more than 30 minutes to access water in Cockle Bay and Moyiba were more likely to use healthcare within settlements. Water insecurity, poor sanitation, unsafe waste disposal and disaster exposure may raise illness risk while poverty and infrastructure constraints can still suppress healthcare use. Shared sanitation may indicate disease exposure and communal vulnerability. Health policy should be coordinated with infrastructure improvements because water, sanitation and waste conditions were associated with healthcare use.