Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of House To House Inspection Manual in the Control of Sanitation Related Diseases in Gombe Metropolis, Gombe State, Nigeria

Introduction: House provides a physical framework in which human, social, economic and cultural resources are realized, enriched and integrated. In the traditional African setting, a house is one of the greatly cherished material properties. This is partly due to other vital cultural functions of houses which include protection of family cohesion and values, taking care of aged through extended family system, properties for inheritance and preservation of ancestral values among others. In developing countries such as Nigeria, the major factors that cause morbidity and mortality are traceable to factors arising from poor environmental sanitation. Poor housing sanitation, coupled with rapid increase in population in the urban and rural centers have encouraged the preponderance of various health hazards including overcrowding in living accommodation, inadequate water supply, poor solid waste management and indiscriminate disposal of faeces. In some instances, reared animals co-habit the already overcrowded living accommodations with humans, thus promoting the spread of zoonotic infectious diseases. Poor housing sanitary condition causes high incidence of diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, asthma, influenza food and lead poisoning which are related to overcrowding, poor ventilation in houses and living accommodations. Statement of the Problems. One among the major key role of environmental health officer is house to house inspection, with aim purpose to detect and abate nuisances. The house to house inspection manual is a road map for effective and efficient house inspection, since the inception of such manual no any work done to evaluate its effectiveness and efficiency in the control of sanitation related diseases. Objectives of the Study. Twelve objectives and twenty research question were formulated the review of the related literature include both primary and secondary sources, Research Methods. The research design is descriptive, cross sectional and multistage, the study area is Gombe metropolis while the population of the study include all the house type A,B,C within Gombe metropolis. The simple random sampling was used to sample 2500 houses and the instrument for data collection includes questionnaire, checklist, interview, observation and experiment. Findings. The finding shows that, the existing manual is inadequate for house to house inspection because it lack some areas such as indoor air pollutant, outdoor air pollutant, lead poisoning, health assessment, water quality analysis, pets and pets management, vectors and rodents control, housing population, smoke and carbon dioxide detectors, swimming pool, children play ground, escape doors, geographical information system (GIS) electrical and electronic appliances, heating, ventilation and air conditioning among others. Recommendation. Finally, the researcher recommends the adoption of newly design manual for effective and efficient house to house inspection to control sanitation related diseases. Conclusion. For environmental health officers to carry out effective and efficient premises inspection there is need for standard, up to date and functional soft and hardware Inspection Manual. But currently the available House to House inspection manual is short of these qualities. It lack a lot of variables particularly in the area Pet and pet management, recreational facilities, indoor air pollutant, outdoor air pollutant, electrical supply and appliances, smoke and CO2 detectors. As it is, the existing House to House Inspection Manual is inadequate to provide the detailed result of Housing premises inspection report to be used for improving the standard condition of our environment by making it free from pollution, nuisance, other hazardous substance and make it more ecofriendly. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 28-12-2018 Date of acceptance: 12-01-2019 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of House To House Inspection Manual in the Control. DOI: 10.9790/2402-1301010510 www.iosrjournals. org 6 | Page