Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Hand Washing among Mothers of Children 0-59 Months of Age in Lagos Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the knowledge, attitudes and practice of hand washing among mothers of children 0-59 months of age in Lagos Nigeria. The descriptive survey method was used to gather data for the study. The study was conducted in three local government areas of Lagos. The local government areas are Eti-Osa, Lagos Mainland and Alimosho. 934,886 female residents of the three local government areas formed the population of study while 406 respondents formed the sample size. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The study found that 7 in 10 mothers of children 0-59 months of age had high exposure to the campaign about the danger of dirty hands (73.8%). About 6 in 10 of them similarly had high knowledge of the subject matter and as a result, mothers who were knowledgeable about hand washing practiced it. It concluded that has been a gap between recommendations on improving hand washing practice and actual actions on such recommendations. Hence, this study recommends that intervention efforts should address the infrastructure gaps that negatively impact on the availability of these hand washing-boosting factors, particularly, access to water, if improvement is to be achieved in terms of practice.