| dc.description.abstract | Bushenyi is one of the 33 districts of Uganda. It is located in the South Western part of·the country and covers 5395.93 square kilometres which is 2.24 percent of the total national area. According to 1980 Uganda Population Census, the district had a total population of 524,669. This was 4.2 percent of the total National Population. Demographically, Bushenyi is one of the areas with the highest fertility levels in Uganda. Its mortality is relatively low and showing signs of declining. The combination of high fertility and.relatively low mortality I has given the area a higher rate of natural increase than other districts in the country. Due to this fact, plus the fertile volcanic soils which attracted in-migration in the past, the district is densely populated. The high population density in the area is discouraging in migration and most probably encouraging out-mivration. This has been partly responsible for the lower rate of population growth than what was expected for 1980. Socio-economically, the district is underdeveloped. The majority of its people are uneducated. At the same time, the main economiy activity for the area is agriculture. In most cases this gives very low incomes to the people. A combination of low incomes and low education has contributed to the existence of poor housing conditions in the area. This study attempts to explore the possible relations that exist between housing conditions and Some socio-economic and demographic variables for Bushenyi District. It is based on a one percent District representative sample~selected from the 1980 Uganda Population Census data for the study area. The sample is roughly 5,542 people, or 1000 households.
The study is organized in to six chapters. The first chapter introduces the subject of study by mentioning the importance of housing conditions to peoples' well-being and the general socio-economic development of the area. It also gives the geographical, demographic and socio\ economic aspects of the district. Chapter two treats the general aspects of data sources, sampling procedures, data processing, and elaborates on some major problems encountered in the field. It evaluates the data particularly on age, and finds that it is defective. The implications of such data on the final results as well as the inferences made there after are pointed out.
In chapter three, we give the statement of the problem as well as the objectives, significance, and
relevance of the study. We accordinely review some of the available literature on housing conditions, and find that very little research has been done to document the relationship between housing conditions and some socioeconomic and demographic variables in the area. Chapter four gives a general picture of the existing housing conditions in the District from the point of view of quality of shelter, source of water and toilet facilities. According to the findings in this chapter, most of the households sleep in temporary shelters. However, the average densities in the shelters suggest that probably, the units in the area are not over-crowded. With respect to source of water, most of the households are still found to using inadequate sources like the unprotected spring and well. The general picture of available toilet facility is the pit-latrine whose quality might even be questionable. A relatively big proportion of the people in the District reported lack of any form of toilet facilities. The implications of such defective facilities to the general well-being of the people are accordingly spelt out. The chapter goes further to analyse the relationship that
exists between housing conditions (shelter in particular) and socio-economic status - education level and economic activity bf the head of household. A high positive relationship is discovered in both cases. That is to say, the better the socio-economic status of the head, the better the housing conditions for the household. Chapter five is specifically concerned with analysing the relationship between housing conditions and mortality, which in this study is measured by the use of infant
and child mortality indices, crude death rate, and life expectation at birth. It is discovered that mortality is higher in the temporary class of housing than in the other classes. Likewise, life expectation at birth is found to be higher for the semi-permanent and permanent class dwellers than for the temporary class inhabitants. These findings suggest an inverse relationship between housing conditions and mortality rates - the better the housing conditions the lower the mortality and vise versa. The last chapter is a summary of the study. In addition, it suggests some measures that can be taken to improve the quality of housing conditions from the point of view of source of water, toilet facilities, as well as shelter. It accordingly points out some areas which should be considered by future researchers on the subject. | en |
