Water and Sanitation Facilities’ Impact on the Health of Urban Poor Women of Chennai City: A Geographical Approach

Access to safe drinking water and affordable sanitation is essential to population health, welfare and development. And the environment in which we live and access these facilities has a severe impact on the health of users. This study explored the interrelations between the location of the living environment of the urban poor women and their access to water and sanitation facilities; and its impact on their health. The study adopted a cross-sectional mixed method design and selected 550 women from 11 location-based sample areas of Chennai city using a purposive sampling technique. Findings of the study reported that the provision of water and sanitation facilities is not equally distributed and the women's choice of access to facilities and the health impact differs between the living environments. Physical pain, injuries, infectious diseases like reproductive tract infections, gastrointestinal problems and skin diseases, and psychological stress were commonly reported among the urban poor women in all categories. But the degree of health impact varied according to the living environment and the coastal slum women were found to be highly affected. The study concludes by suggesting the location-specific sustainable intervention to improve the health and well-being of urban poor women and the community.