Practices of hygiene among primary school children in a selected semi urban area of Bangladesh

Abstract

This descriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted to assess the practice of hygiene among primary school children in a selected semi urban area of Bangladesh. This study was conducted among 150 respondents who were selected purposively at Shafipur Model High School in Kaliyakoir thana of Shafipur upazilla, Gazipur in Bangladesh and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data by face-to-face interview. In this study, majority of the respondents 89 (59.33%) were within the age group of 08-10 years. About respondents 88 (58.67%) were girls and 62 (41.33%) were boys. Among the respondents 54 (36%) were students of class III, 48 (32%) were students of class IV and 48 (32%) were students of class V. About 121 (80.66%) respondents gathered knowledge of hand hygiene from their parents. Regarding hand washing, 137 (91.33%) respondents washed their hands before meal. All the respondents washed their hands with soap after coming from toilet. Almost everyone 145 (96.67%) regularly cut their fingernails. Maximum respondents 119 (79.33%) used tap water and 31 (20.67%) used deep tube well water for drinking. Almost all of them 148 (98.66%) covered their water container. Maximum respondents 148 (98.67%) took bath regularly. Most of the respondents 148 (98.67%) used sanitary latrine. Maximum respondents 131 (87.33%) kept garbage in covered dustbin. Information from this study will serve as baseline data for future school-based hygiene intervention programs in semi-urban area of Bangladesh.