Improving community health outcomes through hygienic vegetable gardening

This research publication, co-authored by Charles Sturt’s Dr Uba Nwose, investigated the role of vegetable gardening practices in providing a transmission vector for Typhoid gastroenteritis. The paper recommends the need for greater educational awareness and health promotion across Nigerian communities on the practice of good personal hygiene for food handling and hygienic gardening.

Four key risk factors for disease transmission that can be managed are identified. These include good personal hygiene for those handling food, protecting fields from animal faecal contamination, appropriate pre-treatment of faecal waste used in garden fertilising, and appropriately managing irrigation water to reduce contamination risks.