�Most Batswana live in one-rooms�

Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Wednesday May 7, 2014 10:48

 

Nationally, the report found a degree of accommodation congestion in households, concluding that the situation puts people at the risk of contracting airborne diseases.

The Statistics Botswana report focussed on households with five or more persons occupying one room as these would indicate overcrowding.

Out of a total of 162,791 households occupying one room in urban areas, 17,428 households or 27.76 percent had five or more persons occupying one room. 

About 4,266 households in rural areas had five or more persons occupying one room.  The study noted that poverty and urbanisation create the perfect conditions for TB transmission. TB is transmitted through the air when an infected patient coughs, sneezes or spits.

“Urbanisation leads to higher population densities, crowded living conditions, and increased mobility among migrants seeking temporary work,” the report noted.

Statistics Botswana researchers noted that the country’s TB programme was successful in rolling back the disease until 1990, after which the incidence of the disease increased, peaking in 2002 with 623 cases notified per 100,000 people in the population.

The highest numbers of TB cases notified between 2007 and 2011 were in Gaborone and Kweneng East, possibly due to larger population sizes and densities. Gaborone recorded 1,149 cases in 2008 while Kweneng East clocked 1,146 cases in 2009.

“Overcrowding results in poor ventilation, worsening of respiratory-related illness and increased vulnerability to diseases,” researchers noted.

“In addition, it leads to physically and emotionally overstrained caregivers and worsens health risks related to poor water supply and sanitation.”