Abstract

The paper employs discriminant analysis to examine key socio-economic variables which distinguish residents of Odeda from Obafemi – Owode local government areas of Ogun State based on the incidence of guinea worm disease status. It is evident that source of drinking water consumed, medication method adopted and duration of healing of guinea worm disease have strong discriminating effects than other socio-economic variables like age, sex, access to health education and type of labour employed. The study revealed an average man-day loss of N850.20 and N1, 350 as the cost of treating the infection that takes 43.7days to heal completely. The paper suggests provision of safe drinking water, either through boreholes, pipe borne water or ensuring that other sources of water like ponds are filtered or treated with necessary chemicals.

Key words: Discriminant analysis, copepods, Wilks’ lambda, guinea worm.