Knowledge and Practice of Handwashing by School Students in Kamrup Metropolitan, Assam, India: A Cross Sectional Survey

Pawan Sharma; Tanya Aggarwal; Manoj Kalita; Arvind Kumar; Anupam Mukherjee; Daulat Kumar Chaubey

doi:10.1055/s-0042-1758678

Homœopathic Links, Table of Contents

Homœopathic Links 2023; 36(01): 016-019
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1758678

Perspective

Knowledge and Practice of Handwashing by School Students in Kamrup Metropolitan, Assam, India: A Cross Sectional Survey

Authors

Pawan Sharma

¹Department of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of West Bengal Model Ayush OPD (Homoeopathy), State Homoeopathic Dispensary, Bagdogra Primary Health Centre, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
Tanya Aggarwal

²Asst. Sec. (Tech) Erstwhile Central Council of Homoeopathy, Ministry of Ayush, Govt. of India, India
Manoj Kalita

³Dr B Borooah Cancer Institute, Population Based Cancer Registry, ICMR, Guwahati, Kamrup Metropilitan, Assam India
Arvind Kumar

⁴Statistician & Formerly attached with Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of Ayush, Govt. of India, New Delhi 110058, India
Anupam Mukherjee

⁵State Homoeopathic Dispensary, under Belakoba BPHC, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of West Bengal, India, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India
Daulat Kumar Chaubey

⁶Metropolitan Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, Ramchandraour, Sodepur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to understand the level of handwashing knowledge, and handwashing practices as well as to determine the availability of handwashing facilities in the schools.

Materials and Methods A survey was conducted on 17th October 2019 to determine the availability of handwashing facilities along with the level of handwashing knowledge and practices among school students of Borsojai High School situated in Kamrup Metropolitan City, Guwahati, Assam. The study population consisted of randomly selected students of 9th and 10th classes during the academic year 2019 to 2020. The quantitative data were analysed using the IBM-SPSS, version 20.0.

Result Fifty-six school students from classes 9 to 10th of mean age 15.53 years participated in the current study. It is evident that school-aged students have sufficient knowledge of handwashing, and they widely recognise the importance of handwashing (94.6%) to prevent diseases (39.3%) and to remove germs (48.2%).

Conclusion To encourage hand hygiene in school students, parents can also be sensitised through the parents teacher meeting. This will improve the health and reduce the absenteeism from school due to infectious diseases.

Keywords

handwashing - knowledge - practice - school students - disease prevention - Kamrup - Assam

Full Text

References

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