Exploring associations between household environmental factors and handwashing with essential agents in sub-Saharan Africa (original) (raw)
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Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development
The World Health Organization provides guidelines on handwashing as part of the global campaign towards achieving proper hygiene. In East Africa, cholera and diarrhoea outbreaks and, most recently, COVID-19 remain a threat to public health – calling for the promotion of handwashing to prevent infection. Using data from demographic and health surveys in four East African countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda), we estimate the prevalence and identify the predictors of the availability of handwashing facilities in households. Findings indicate that the presence of a handwashing facility is not universal in the four countries: Kenya (66.4%), Rwanda (76.4%), Tanzania (80.7%) and Uganda (59.2%). Results from the pooled binary logistic regression model indicate that age, sex and education of the household head, type of place of residence, number of children, and household wealth are strong predictors of having handwashing facilities in all countries. However, the likelihood of havi...
Heliyon, 2020
Handwashing with soap and water remains the most effective public health measure to reduce the risk of infectious diseases, which kill over 2.5 million people annually, mostly children in developing countries. The absence of hand hygiene resources in homes put many at risk of these infectious diseases. In the wake of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) and governments around the world have stressed the importance of regular handwashing to prevent the spread of the virus. This suggests that research on water, sanitation, and hygiene issues deserve continuous scholarly attention. In Ghana, studies on household's access to hand hygiene resources are few and relatively old. Therefore, this study estimated the proportion of Ghanaian households with access to hand hygiene resources and their associated determinants using data from a recent national survey. Methods: The study used the cross-sectional 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys dataset. We used STATA-14 to perform data analyses on a weighted sample of 11,710.06 households. We used complex samples analysis technique to adjust for sample units, stratification and sample weights for both the descriptive statistics and multivariate robust Poisson regression. Results: The result showed that about one fifth of Ghanaian households had access to hand hygiene resources. Households with heads who attained a Middle/JHS/JSS or Secondary/SSS/SHS/Higher level education, those headed by persons having at least 30-44 years, and non-poorest households, and from the Volta region were more likely to have access to hand hygiene resources. Further, households in urban areas, households that spent between 0-30 min to get to a source of water, and households in Eastern and Brong-Ahafo regions were less likely to have access to hand hygiene resources. Conclusion: This study identified key socioeconomic and demographic correlates of a household's access to hand hygiene resources in Ghana. In the interim, the government and development partners can provide hand hygiene resources to households with limited or no access. For the long term, we recommend that the government should implement measures and policies that facilitate citizens' economic independence and their attainment of higher formal education.
BMJ Open
PurposeHandwashing is a single most preventive measure for reducing the spread of contagious diseases. Mothers serve as the children’s nurses and poor practice of simple hygiene increases the risk of the spread of diseases to under-5 children.ObjectiveThis study aimed at investigating the proportion of handwashing practice at critical times and associated factors among mothers of under-5 children in Kolladiba town, Northwest Ethiopia.Design, Setting, participants and outcome measuresA community-based cross-sectional study design was carried out from 20 February 2020 to 12 March 2020, in Kolladiba town. A total of 334 mothers participated in this study. The study participants were selected using a systematic random sampling technique. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression was employed. A p<0.05 was used to declare statically significant variables.ResultsThe proportion of good handwashing practice among mothers at critical times was 51.2% (95% CI 45.8% to 56.5%). ...
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2017
In 2009, a common set of questions addressing handwashing behavior was introduced into nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), providing large amounts of comparable data from numerous countries worldwide. The objective of this analysis is to describe global handwashing patterns using two proxy indicators for handwashing behavior from 51 DHS and MICS surveys conducted in 2010-2013: availability of soap anywhere in the dwelling and access to a handwashing place with soap and water. Data were also examined across geographic regions, wealth quintiles, and rural versus urban settings. We found large disparities for both indicators across regions, and even among countries within the same World Health Organization region. Within countries, households in lower wealth quintiles and in rural areas were less likely to have soap anywhere in the dwelling and at designated handwashing locations than households in higher wealth ...
Hand hygiene practice and associated factors among rural communities in northwest Ethiopia
Scientific Reports
This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1190 randomly selected rural households in northwest Ethiopia to assess hand hygiene practice and associated factors. Frequent handwashing with rubbing agents, drying mechanisms; and condition of fingernails were used to assess hand hygiene practice. Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with hand hygiene and statistically significant association was declared on the basis of adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) and p-values < 0.05. Results showed that 28.8% (95% CI 26.2, 31.4%) of the households had good hand hygiene practice. Good hand hygiene practice was significantly associated with formal education attended household heads (AOR 1.79, 95% CI 1.33, 2.40), family discussion on sanitation (AOR 1.56, 95% CI 1.08, 2.26), provision of health education (AOR 2.23, 95% CI 1.62, 3.06), and availability of water (AOR 3.51, 95% CI 1.02, 12.05). In conc...
Frontiers in Public Health
BackgroundHand washing with soap and water reduces the risk of diarrheal episode by 28–48% and acute respiratory infection by 20–50%. However, there is limited evidence on hand washing practices among students in Eastern Ethiopia, particularly in Harari town. Therefore, this study aimed to determine hand washing practice among primary school students and associated factors in Harar town, Eastern Ethiopia.MethodsAn institution-based cross-sectional study was applied among 670 students in Harar town from June 1 to 30, 2021. A multi-stage sampling was employed; 6 out of 20 schools were selected through simple random sampling, while eligible children from each school was selected by probability proportional to size sampling method. Data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire with a face-to-face interview technique and via observation. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 23. Binary and mult-variable analysis were used to determine the association between factors a...
African Health Sciences
Introduction: Handwashing with soap has received considerable attention due to its importance in the prevention and inter- ruption of the transmission of diseases. Regardless of the positive effects of handwashing with soap, developing countries still have a low rate of handwashing. Objective: The study aimed to determine the individual, household and community-level factors associated with handwash- ing behavior among households in Eswatini. Methods: Using the Eswatini Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in 2014, a secondary analysis was done of the households surveyed. A total of 1,520 households nested in communities with complete data on handwashing practices were included in the analysis. Univariate, bivariate analysis and multivariate multilevel logistic regression were used to estab- lish the factors that were associated with handwashing behavior. Results: The prevalence of handwashing among households was 56% in 2014. Households whose heads were aged 35-54 and 55 yea...
Factors influencing access to basic handwashing facilities in developing countries
Munich Personal RePEc Archive, 2020
Access to handwashing facilities including soap and water is considered a basic minimum personal hygiene requirement to reduce spreading of infectious diseases like Novel Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19). Outbreak of Covid-19 and subsequent spread of the virus across the world is a serious public health concern of the time. As on 10 April 2020 there are 1,521,252 confirmed cases of infected people of which 92,798 people have died across the world due to Covid-19. It has been suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) that social distancing and frequent sanitization of hands either by washing with soap and water or by using alcohol based hand sanitizer may reduce possibility of infection. However, access to basic hand washing facilities is not universal in developing countries. Even within a country the access varies across households. There are various factors which influence access to basic hand washing facilities. Therefore, the objective of the present paper is to understand country-specific factors influencing access to basic hand washing facilities in developing countries. The study is based on a sample of 94 countries for 10 years (2008 to 2017). The study throws some interesting results which may be useful to make policies and programmes to increase the coverage of hand washing facilities.
Italian Journal of Pediatrics, 2019
Background The burden of communicable diseases within developing countries is mainly influenced by poor personal hygiene practices. Hand washing is considered as most cost effective intervention for reducing health problems such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory tract infections. This study aimed to assess hand washing practice at critical times and identify associated factors among mothers of under five children in Debark town. Method A community based cross-sectional study design was carried out from May 1–20, 2018 in Debark town. After selection of participants using simple random sampling, face to face interview was performed by using semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire. Data were entered into EPI Info 7 and exported into SPSS 21 for further analysis. Results were presented by simple frequency, percentage and mean for descriptive variables. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to test the association of dependent and independent factors. Variables with 95% confiden...
https://www.academia.edu/upload/document, 2018
Abstract Background: Diarrhea and respiratory infections are the two biggest causes of child death globally. Hand washing with soap could substantially reduce diarrhea and respiratory infections, however in developing countries hand washing is still being practiced to a very low extent especially at critical moments such as before eating and after using the toile. Objective: To assess hand washing practice and associated factors among primary school children in Damot Woide Woreda of Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was conducted in Damot Woide Woreda of Wolaita zone from January 1/2018-February/30/2018.Multistage cluster sampling was used and a total of 580 students in six primary schools from grade 5-8 were selected by simple random sampling. Data was collected by using interviewer administered pre-tested structured questionnaires by trained data collectors. Data was checked for completeness, edited manually, coded and entered in to Epi Data version 3.1 for data clearance and exported into SPSS version 20 to be analyzed. Both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used. Result: This study showed that 28.10% of [95% CI: 24.5-31.7] students had practiced proper hand washing practice. Being grade 8[Adjusted OR =3.44, 95% CI:1.52, 8.23], urban residence[Adjusted OR =18.84, 95% CI:14.02,23.29],having parents [Adjusted OR = 10.74; 95% CI 8.80 to 12.36], teachers as a role models [Adjusted OR =6.45; 95% CI 5.52 to 8.99] and health professionals as a role models [Adjusted OR = 9.62; 95% CI 2.70 to 14.19], and presence of hand washing facility in school[Adjusted OR =3.84, 95% CI:3.60, 4.07] were found to be significantly associated with proper hand washing practice. Conclusion and Recommendations: Proportion of students’ proper hand washing practice was low. Therefore, promoting and enhancing hand washing practices and preparing hand washing facilities in schools is mandatory to addressing the gap of hand washing practice among primary school students in Damot woide woreda. Keywords: Hand washing practice, primary school children, students.