Structural constraints can limit hygiene practices in the very disadvantaged sections of a population, thus jeopardizing the potential success of hygiene promotion campaigns in those most at risk of disease. Nevertheless, the strong association of hand washing with media ownership and exposure supports the view that mass media can play a role in hygiene promotion.

These are the results of a nationwide cross sectional survey [1] in Kenya in 800 households with two components: direct structured observation of hygiene practices at food handling, cleaning a child after defecation, and toilet use, followed by a structured interview addressing potential socio-economic, water access and behavioural determinants of handwashing. The researchers observed a total of 5182 critical opportunities for handwashing, and hand washing with soap.

Water access, level of education, media exposure and media ownership were associated with hand washing with soap. Only households with very poor access to water and sanitation, and with the lowest levels of education and media exposure, washed their hands markedly less than the majority of the households.

[1] Schmidt, W.-P. ... [et al.] (2009). Determinants of handwashing practices in Kenya: the role of media exposure, poverty and infrastructure. In: Tropical medicine & international health. Published on-line 30 September 2009. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3156.2009.02404.x

Related news:

• Hygiene behaviour: an eleven country review of handwashing with soap, Source Weekly, 22 Apr 2009
• Asia: Unilever to replicate Project Shakti on other international markets, Source Weekly, 13 Feb 2009
• Hands-on campaign makes soap a “must-have” product in Ghana, Source Bulletin, Nov 2008

Related web sites:

• Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing
• Global Handwashing Day

Contact: Wolf-Peter Schmidt, Dept. of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK,
wolf-peter.schmidt@lshtm.ac.uk

Tags: africa, hygiene promotion, information and communication