Health Implication of Dam in Some Parts of Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Although dams have beneficial effects, they are also acknowledged as having serious environmental repercussions if they are not properly managed. The aim of this research was to examine the impact of Kofa dam in Niger State on the health status of a riparian community downstream (Kofa) against a control community (Karfe). The objectives of the study are to assess the health implications of proximity to Kofa dam and to investigate the perception of the community members located near the dam on its health implication. A convenient 3% sample size was adopted resulting to 130 respondents and questionnaires, focus group discussion and personal observation were used to elicit data. The result unveiled that communicable water-related diseases are more common in the catchment area, which were identified as malaria, water related diseases (bilharzias, diarrhea, rashes measles) and cholera among others which are mostly associated with water. Case-control study was then conducted in one community (Karfe) which is about 5km away from the experimental community in other to ascertain the health status of the communities with regards to the function of the dam. Most of the diseases identified in the control community are conventional diseases in Nigeria such as: Malaria, Ulcer, Diabetes, which invariably signifies that the diseases identified there has no correlation what so ever with the waterborne diseases found in the experimental community. The study therefore shows some degree of association between the presence of the dam and poor health status of the downstream community in close proximity to it. However, it was recommended that Government should assist in providing the community with safe drinking water so as to prevent the community from using the untreated dam water for their domestic use and provide the community with health education, mosquito netting, medical facilities and drugs to promptly diagnose and treat infected persons in the communities particularly Kofa as it is the community located in close proximity to the dam and is mostly affected by waterborne disease.