Assessment of the status of handwashing in households of kateebwa sub county, Bunyangabu district

Abstract

Handwashing has been recognized as the most important,convenient and cost-effective public health measure for preventing infectious diseases. It has been found out that communities inadequately wash their hands which increase their chances of contracting infectious diseases due to limited level of knowledge, attitudes and practices towards hand washing, therefore this study assessed the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of the householdmembers on handwashing in Kateebwa Sub-County, Bunyangabu district so as to identify gaps in level of knowledge, attitudes and practices and suggest measures for improving handwashing coverage in Uganda. Methodology; A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Quantitative data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires through face-to-face interviews using a total sample size of 400 participants. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzedusing Epi-data and manually using thematic content analysis respectively. Results; Majority of the respondents 65% (260/400) wereunable to wash their hands with soap due to lack of money to buy soap leading to low hand washing among the rural households with low social economic status. The highest number of the participants 63% (5/8) were not washing their hands due to lack of water and soap for hand washingdespite their high levels of knowledge on the purpose of hand washing with soap which contributed to disease outbreaks resulting into low productivity and income status. Majority of the respondents98% (392/400) regarded washing of children’s hands as less importantbecause children were less involved in dirty activities than adults hence increasing their vulnerability to disease epidemics. Conclusion and recommendations Hand hygiene is essential to the health of the public however the study established that participants had good knowledge on hand hygiene with low compliance on proper handwashing practices. The main limitations being identified as non-availability of hand washing facilities and kits like soap, running tap water, alcohol hand based sanitizers and hand dryers. However successfully implementation of programs related to hand washing improvement, promotion and advocacy have been substantially proved in thereduction of diarrheal morbidity and mortality in rural sittings especiallyat critical moments.