Communities’ Perception of Health Risks Associated with Utilizing the Water and Fish from the River Nyong, Cameroon

Objectives: Freshwater resources are essential to livelihoods because of the ecosystem services they provide. However rivers flowing through residential and agricultural areas are susceptible to contamination, affecting these services. It is essential to ascertain the level of confidence of residents in the use of the said river resources. The aim of this study was to assess the perceptions of the communities on the health risks associated with the use of the River Nyong in Cameroon.

Methods: 140 semi-structured questionnaires were administered to users of the river in Akonolinga, Cameroon. Data were analysed in the SPSS version 21 statistical package at α = 0.05.

Results: Some respondents (11.4%) do laundry in the River Nyong. Few (17.6%) bathe in the river while a majority (88.1%) consumes fish from it. A majority of respondents (78.6%) get sick and are hospitalised between 1 and 3 times annually. Food poisoning and waterborne diseases occur between 20 to 30 times annually in at least 22.2% of the respondents, and symptoms include stomach ache (54.8%), diarrhoea (41.9%) and rashes (17.2%). There is a strong association between the method of preparing fish before consumption and the number of annual hospital visits (Χ2 = 18.073, p = 0.006).

Conclusion: While respondents’ perceptions of the health risks associated with exposure to the water and fish from the river are strong, we did not find a causal association between the risk factors studied and the health risk indicators.