Abstract
The government has implemented water, sanitation, and hygiene campaigns (WASH) to reduce open defecation practices among people. Poor awareness of the importance of hygienic practices has been a barrier to defeating open defecation practices in rural areas of Ekiti State. The study is designed to investigate the influence of community-based open defecation-free campaigns among residents of rural areas in Oye-Ekiti Local Government Area. A survey method and paired-depth interview were adopted to investigate community-based preventive health campaigns on open defecation practice among residents of rural areas in Oye-Ekiti Local Government Area. Findings showed that unimproved water supply coverage accounts for the open defecation practice in Oye-Ekiti Local Government Area. Findings also showed that Community-based open defecation-free campaigns play mobilizational roles in rural communities and that health education officers perform enlightenment roles in rural communities of the Oye-Ekiti Local Government Area. It is recommended that an office must be dedicated in every Local Government Area to oversee the affairs of the community-based stakeholders with regard to all health campaigns meant for all rural communities in Nigeria. Governments at all levels must partner the Charity Organisations and other Non-Governmental Organisations to make mechanised or motorised boreholes available in the rural communities of Oye-Local Government Area, and all other Local Government Areas in Nigeria to kill the growing cases of open defecation practice in the rural areas of those Local Government Areas.