Mapping water sources and access to drinking water in the Lake Chad region of Cameroon: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: people's access to quality water resources significantly improves their health. In Cameroon, access to drinking water is still limited and unequally distributed over the national territory with alarming figures in the northern part of the country. This study aimed to assess the distribution of water points and characterise water storage and treatment practices in households of the Lake Chad region of Cameroon. Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study in Goulfey, Mada, and Makary health districts of the Far North Region of Cameroon from December 2013 to February 2014. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews with a structured questionnaire to assess household water behaviour and an observational grid for the characterisation of water points. Results: we identified a total of 303 water points, out of which 288 were assessed. Of these, 29.5% (85/288) were non-functional with functional failure observed as the main reason (47.6%). Of the 531 households reached, 527 (99.2%) were interviewed. Most households (70.2%) used boreholes as their main water source and only 3% of households used lakes as drinking water. The majority of households (90.4%) used clay pots for water storage within their homes. Buckets with covers are used in 21 (4.0%) while only 1 (0.2%) household used buckets without covers. Only 138 (26.2%) households treat their water and the main treatment method used is chlorination (89.1%). Conclusion: this study provides further evidence that access to safe water remains a real problem in the Lake Chad Basin. Therefore, interventions are needed to address the problem, but further studies are needed to strengthen its implementation.