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Assessment of Hand Washing Practice and its Associated Factors among First Cycle Primary School Children in Arba Minch Town, Ethiopia, 2015

Behailu Besha, Hailu Guche, Dawit Chare, Abebech Amare, Amelmal Kassahun, Engida Kebede, Yinager Workineh, Tomas Yeheyis, Mulugeta Shegaze, Adisu Alemayehu and Aman Yesuf

Introduction: Proper hand washing is one of the simplest, most affordable and effective means of stopping the spread of infection via feces, body fluids, and inanimate objects. Hand washing is especially important for children and adolescents, as these age groups are the most susceptible to infections gained from unwashed hands. In addition to this due to the close proximity of children in schools and child care settings, there is a high risk for the spread of infectious disease. Proper hand washing also improves learning and teaching processes by reducing absenteeism.

Objective: To assess hand washing practice and associated factors in primary school children in Arba Minch town, 2015.

Method and materials: Institutional based cross sectional study design was employed on primary school children. Data were collected using interview questionnaires. School hand washing facilities inspection was also done using observation checklist. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 software.

Result: One-fifth (22.23%) of participants had proper hand washing practice. Two hundred fifty four (72.57%) of 1st cycle primary school children had sufficient knowledge. Similarly, 254(78.28%) children had positive attitude towards hand washing practice. Only two schools were fulfilling criteria of medium hygiene facility. From all predictors, residency, availability and accessibility of water, and soap, and referent pressure were strongly associated with hand washing practice as it was statistically evidenced by (AOR: 1.37, 95% CI: (1.07, 20.11)), (AOR: 0.25, 95% CI: (0.02, 0.87)) and (AOR: 1.65, 95% CI: (1.03, 7.98)), respectively.

Conclusion: This study revealed that only small proportion of study participant practiced proper hand washing behavior. Place of residency, availability and accessibility of water, and soap, and pressure from important referents were significantly associated with hand washing practice.