A Study of Health Risk in Home Environment Within the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Township Area

Abstract

Generally, the home environment has been acknowledged as one of the main settings that affect human health. Living and housing conditions are the basis of many factors influencing residential health. Good physical and mental health of residents depends on having homes that are safe and free from health risk factors. The unfit housing can contribute significantly towards ill health like asthma, wheezing, respiration problems, dengue and domestic accidents among the inhabitants. This research aims to find out health risk factors within the home environment and its impact on the health of the inhabitants. Accordingly, in this research, it is expected to explain ten major risk factors on health associated with the home environment such as “structural deficiencies”, “insufficient space”, “poor indoor air quality”, “lightning and ventilation”, “risk of pests”, “humidity/mould growth”, “risky materials like asbestos, lead”, “lack of proper sanitation”, “water supply” and “other threats of safety like noise, firing”.This study was conducted within the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Township area. Primary data was collected from 60 households by means of general observation and interviewing the people who live in the study area using a structured questionnaire. Sampling method was Systematic Sampling method and collected data was analyzed by using SPSS 16.0 and Microsoft Excel.As per the findings, there was 41% of average level of risk percentage regarding to the “other threats of safety such as noisy background, fire precaution” etc. There is a 39% of risk level for “threat of pests” and there is a 30% of risk regarding “materials used in home environment”. Moreover, findings revealed that wheezing was the most reported disease in the study area and there was a significant correlation between risk factors such as “poor indoor air quality”, “risk of pests like rats and moldiness”. And health of inhabitants especially with regards to the Asthma, Wheezing and respiration problems are also related with these factors. It is also noted that even though the reported domestic accidents was insignificant, general observation evident that the inhabitant like elders, children, pregnant mothers etc. are at risk due to poorly planned and maintained physical features such as tiled floors, staircase etc. However, this phenomenon should be specially studied. Also it is fond as per the observation, risk is obviously very high on dengue and related health issues due to poor neighborhood cleanliness. Keywords: Home Environment, Health Risk Factors, Impact, Inhabitants’ Heath, Domestic Accidents