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Impact of Public Toilet Hygiene Campaigns on Toilet Hygiene Practices among Market Traders in Nigeria

Abstract

Public toilet hygiene is an important environmental health concern in Nigerian markets, where large numbers of traders and customers may depend on shared sanitation facilities. Poor hygiene practices in public toilets, including inadequate cleaning, improper waste disposal, poor hand hygiene, and inappropriate toilet use, may increase exposure to faecal contamination and contribute to the transmission of sanitation-related diseases. Market traders may use public toilets repeatedly during working hours and may therefore be particularly affected by the availability, cleanliness, and maintenance of these facilities. Public toilet hygiene campaigns provide an opportunity to increase awareness of proper toilet use, hand hygiene, cleanliness, waste disposal, and shared responsibility for maintaining sanitary public toilet facilities. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of public toilet hygiene campaigns on toilet hygiene practices among market traders in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Ecological Model, and Social Cognitive Theory. The Health Belief Model explains how traders' perceptions of susceptibility to sanitation-related diseases, perceived severity of poor toilet hygiene, perceived benefits of proper toilet hygiene, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence their sanitation behaviours. The Social Ecological Model emphasizes the influence of individual, interpersonal, organizational, market, community, environmental, and infrastructural factors on toilet hygiene practices. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes observational learning, behavioural modelling, self-efficacy, reinforcement, and environmental influences in developing and maintaining appropriate hygiene behaviours. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how public toilet hygiene campaigns may influence toilet hygiene practices among market traders in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise market traders aged 18 years and above operating in selected markets across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, local government areas, markets, sections within markets, trader associations, and eligible traders. Public toilet hygiene campaigns will be assessed using indicators such as exposure to hygiene education sessions, frequency and duration of campaigns, posters and visual messages, demonstrations of proper toilet use, handwashing education, waste-disposal messages, awareness of toilet-cleaning procedures, campaign accessibility, participation in sanitation activities, and exposure to repeated hygiene reminders. Toilet hygiene practices will be assessed using indicators such as proper toilet use, appropriate disposal of sanitary and other waste, keeping toilet surroundings clean, handwashing with soap or appropriate cleansing materials after toilet use, proper use of toilet flushing or water facilities, avoidance of practices that contaminate toilet surfaces, reporting damaged or unclean facilities, and participation in maintaining shared toilet cleanliness. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, toilet hygiene observation checklists, market sanitation inspection records, campaign attendance records, and relevant environmental health programme documents. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize traders' demographic characteristics, toilet-use patterns, exposure to hygiene campaigns, and toilet hygiene practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the impact of public toilet hygiene campaigns on toilet hygiene practices. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, toilet hygiene practice scores before and after the campaign may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that public toilet hygiene campaigns have a significant positive impact on toilet hygiene practices among market traders in Nigeria. Traders exposed to structured and repeated hygiene campaigns are expected to demonstrate better toilet hygiene practices than traders without comparable exposure. Campaigns may improve awareness of the health consequences of poor toilet hygiene and encourage proper toilet use, appropriate waste disposal, handwashing after toilet use, and greater responsibility for maintaining shared sanitation facilities. Visual reminders and practical demonstrations may reinforce appropriate hygiene behaviours during daily market activities. However, inadequate water supply, lack of soap or handwashing facilities, poor toilet maintenance, overcrowding, insufficient cleaning services, unpleasant toilet conditions, user fees, and weak market sanitation management may limit the effectiveness of hygiene campaigns alone. The study therefore expects continuous, practical, and market-specific public toilet hygiene campaigns, supported by clean, accessible, adequately maintained sanitation facilities, to contribute significantly to improved toilet hygiene practices among market traders in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on public toilet hygiene, sanitation campaigns, environmental sanitation, hygiene practices, market health, water sanitation and hygiene, environmental health, community health promotion, infectious disease prevention, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Environment, state ministries and agencies responsible for health and environmental sanitation, local government authorities, market associations, environmental health officers, market managers, public health practitioners, community health workers, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving sanitation in market environments. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening public toilet hygiene campaigns, improving water and handwashing facilities, enhancing toilet cleaning and maintenance, promoting trader participation in sanitation activities, strengthening market sanitation monitoring, and developing sustainable public toilet hygiene interventions across markets in Nigeria.

Keywords: Public toilet hygiene campaigns, toilet hygiene practices, market traders, environmental sanitation, public toilets, hygiene promotion, water sanitation and hygiene, environmental health, Nigeria, public health.