Research Article
Volume 1 Issue 1
Zanaib Bibi, Rukhsana Habib* and Abdur Rehman Azam
August 08, 2022
Abstract
Hand hygiene is fundamental to clinical practice and has been shown to reduce the risk of major diseases. School children and for that matter, primary school pupils are at higher risk the most because of the lack of paying special attention to a simple but very important personal hygiene behavior such as frequently washing hands with soap under running water and also due to insufficient knowledge on good hand washing with soap practice. Between November 2021 and March 2022, this study was conducted in Tehsil Lalian District Chiniot Pakistan. Data on hand washing practiced among primary school children were collected by using questionnaires. Ten students from each school were selected for the questionnaires and 20 schools in urban and 20 schools in rural areas were covered. The study helped us to check the current knowledge about hygiene and the availability of hand washing facilities in the school. Data were collected from above-mentioned schools by using questionnaires. Interviews were taken from the class students to check their knowledge about hygiene which they are given to the students to guide them about their hygiene and how they teach the students to keep them healthy. In rural schools, about 39% students were selected from class 3, 32% from class 4, and 29% students were selected from class 5, while in urban schools, about 35.5% students were taken from class 3, 36.5% from class 4 and 28% students from class 5 were selected. All schools (rural and urban) have the facility of hand washing points. About 96.75% schools have water supply within hand washing point while only 3.25 schools do not have a water supply. They have tissue papers facility instead of water. About 87.75% schools have sign boards of hand washing to guide the students while only 12.25% schools do not have sign boards on hand washing guide the students. About 71.5% students from rural schools wash their hands before eating food while 28.5% students wash their hands after eating. Further, 66.5% students from urban schools wash their hands before eating food while 32.5% students wash their hands after eating. About 74.5% students from rural schools, wash their hands after playing with friends while 25.5% students sometimes wash their hands. About 63.5% students from urban schools wash their hands after playing with friends while 36% students sometimes wash their hands and 0.5% never wash their hands after playing with friends. About 77% students know the importance to wash their hands with soap when in school and 23% students do not. About 42.75% students strongly agree that hand hygiene reduces the chances of spreading infections, 28% student only agree, 13% disagree, 12% don’t know while 4.25% strongly disagree. About 81% students think proper handwashing minimizes the risk of germ attack while 19% students do not think so. About 88.75% students know that if they fail to wash their hands properly, they will be exposed to the disease while 11.25% students do not think so. About 80.25% students think that poor hand washing can cause disease while 19.75% students do not think so.
Keywords: hand washing; disease prevalence; school children; washing practice; rural areas; urban areas
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