Water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions in schools in Antalya in Turkey: a descriptive survey†

The aim of this study was to determine the water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions of schools in Antalya. This descriptive study was conducted with the administrators of 480 schools in 19 districts of Antalya. The data were collected with a questionnaire created by the researchers. In the study, number, percentage, and chi-square tests were used to evaluate the data. In 59% of the schools, a fountain in the garden or building was used as a source of drinking water, only 37.1% of the schools had a programmed pest control program, 32.1% of them had permanent cleaning personnel, and the cleaning materials were mostly (51.2%) obtained from their own budgets. While the number of sinks was sufficient according to the number of students in the schools, the number of toilets was not sufficient, especially for female students. It is of great importance that budget, material, and personnel deficits of schools, where the risk of infection transmission is high, are overcome by the authorities.