The questionnaire survey results revealed a number of observations about the demographic profile of the respondents, the health outcomes, and the living conditions, as quantified in table 7 to table 23. These observations were that there was a disparity with regard to income levels amongst the respondents, and the ages of the majority of respondents were within the reproductive category. A majority of the respondents were unemployed males who had been in these hostels for a period of 1-10 years. At least one third of the respondents were experiencing respiratory health problems, and less than a third were suffering from pulmonary Tuberculosis, and another third were complaining of Sick Building Syndrome symptoms.
Almost half (50%) of the respondents were smoking and two thirds of them were smoking indoors. This was a sign of ignorance about risk to public health associated with smoking in public places. A majority of the respondents were spending one weekend a month
away from the hostel, for the past three years, which indicated that they were permanent residents of hostels. Two thirds of the respondents were previously employed on a full ti me basis 40 hours a week as labourers. However the type of jobs they were doing was not defined. One could not predict the history of previous exposure. The results also revealed that the responsibility of cleaning the rooms/dormitories rested upon the occupants as almost all were cleaning their rooms at least once a day. Which was controversial when one compares these efforts to the hygiene state of the building as this factor was very much supportive in the development of respiratory health problems in the selected hostel blocks.
Two thirds of the respondents confirmed that there were leaking water pipes and blocked waste pipes in the building mainly in the toilets and bathrooms. This was evident by the fact that these factors were very much supportive in the development of self-reported symptoms amongst the respondents. Each individual respondent had to cook food for him or herself using electricity once or twice a day. Since this cooking was taking place in dormitories, it may be the reason for increased indoor levels of pollutants posing high risks to respiratory health problems. In addition to that, the descriptive analysis of data revealed low income earnings which were supposedly exacerbated by high levels of unemployment in the hostels. Amongst other things was overcrowding, supposedly caused by inability to enforce rules including inability to evict illegal residents (access control) and may be due to lack of adequate habitable space. This may be the reason for the failure of services such as ablution facilities which rendered living conditions non- conducive to health.
The surface air sampling results as quantified in table 24 to table 25 revealed that: the number of surface moulds and airborne spores (bio-aerosols) was either high or low from one hostel to another in different hostels and from one block to another in each hostel.
There was no consistency in the total number of surface moulds and airborne spores per floor level within hostel blocks or between hostels. The same type of mould genera discovered in one hostel was found in the other two hostels. The same type of mould species found in the surface samples was found in the air samples. The total number of surface moulds or airborne spores were compared and differed from one hostel to another and from one block to another in a hostel. The total numbers of moulds in 10- bed type dormitories were slightly lower than in 5-bed type dormitories in all three hostels. This evidence was enough to suggest that ventilation was not adequate in the 10-bed dormitories.
A study on household environment and health in Port Elizabeth by Thomas et a/ (1999) has revealed that low-income earnings as well as high levels of unemployment constitute exposure to high risks of diseases associated with poor environmental conditions.
Ramphele (1999), in a study on migrant labour hostels in Cape Town, expressed almost similar concerns, stressing the role of individual lifestyles in health behaviour modification. Very recently a study on vulnerability of South African communities to air pollution by Matooane (2004) has labelled the above factors as vulnerability factors that pre-dispose communities in South Africa to health problems associated with the polluted environment.
In the current study, overcrowding was a dilemma. The numbers of dormitories per block were not proportional to the number of occupants per block. Cranshaw and White (1992) showed that more than 1/5 people per habitable room would be considered overcrowding. This is a fact that plays an important role in affecting the lifestyle of hostel dwellers in particular. Overcrowding may also lead to over usage of basic facilities, for example when bathing and cooking. These activities that prevailed in the dormitories possibly increased the level of moisture in the air, as they caused condensation on ceilings, walls and windows throughout the year.
The legislation governing minimum standards to make a building habitable and ensure satisfactory living conditions (National Building Standards Regulations Act) defines the number of people who must share sanitary facilities. This is to prevent overcrowding of such facilities. Blocked sewer lines and leaking waste water pipes cause dampness in residential buildings, which in turn encourages the development of surface moulds in the indoor environment. A study on assessment of indoor air quality and the level of surface mould growth in residential areas in Durban by Sekhotha and Gqaleni (2001) revealed that moisture in buildings where ventilation was inadequate could cause harm to occupants of such buildings. In the current study, ventilation was found to be inadequate, and this could possibly have increased the growth of indoor moulds, thus constituting a health risk to all the occupants.
5.3 The relationship between confounding factors, health outcomes and