Factors affecting Bangladeshi high school students' practices of sanitation and hygiene
Keywords:
Sanitation; school; hygiene; health; practice; contaminationAbstract
Background: Better sanitation and hygiene standards are beneficial for preventing infections, limiting the spread of pathogens, and fostering overall health in educational environments. On the other hand, not much is known about school-student's hygiene and sanitation habits. The purpose of this study is to identify and comprehend the variables that affect students' behavior related to sanitation and hygiene in classrooms. Method: This study was carried out at the Katiadi Government High School, a high school in a Bangladeshi upazilla town. An exploratory qualitative study design, based on the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH) was used. Before utilizing them, the effectiveness and clarity of the semi-structured interview guides were tested, which included questions about behavior, access, and practices related to sanitation and hygiene. Result: The students had quite low sanitation and hygiene practices despite having a reasonable level of awareness and knowledge. Sanitation and hygiene practices were influenced by a wide range of interrelated factors, which also affected one another. Contextual factors (lack of upkeep and cleanliness, availability of sanitary products), socio-behavioral factors (norms, peer influence), and individual factors (gender awareness, perception, and sense of health benefits). Conclusion: To advance improved sanitation and hygiene practices among school students, multi-level interventions such as regular delivery of WASH-related materials and agents, promotion of low-cost WASH interventions, quality cleaning services improvement, close observation of cleaning activities, individual hygiene behavior promotion, and introduction of gender-sensitive WASH infrastructure and construction may be helpful.
Downloads
References
WHO/UNICEF (2013) Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2013 Update. Available: http://www.unicef.org/wash/files/JMP2013final_en.pdf
WHO/UNICEF (2012) Proposal for consolidated drinking water, sanitation and hygiene targets, indicators and definitions. Available: http://www.wssinfo.org/ fileadmin/user_upload/resources/A-proposal-for-consolidated-WASH-goaltargets definitions-and-indicators_version7_Nov22_final.pdf
Mazeau A, Reed B, Sansom K, Scott R (2013) Emerging categories of urban shared sanitation. Water Environ J. doi: 10.1111/wej.12075
Aiello AE, Coulborn RM, Perez V, Larson EL. Effect of hand hygiene on infectious disease risk in the community setting: a meta-analysis. Am J Public Health. 2008; 98(8):1372–81. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.124610
McMichael C. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools in Low-Income Countries: A Review of Evidence of Impact. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019; 16(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16030359
Mara D, Lane J, Scott B, Trouba D. Sanitation and health. PLoS Med. 2010; 7(11):e1000363. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000363
Bartram J, Cairncross S. Hygiene, sanitation, and water: forgotten foundations of health. PLoS Med. 2010; 7(11):e1000367. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000367
World Health Organization. Sanitation: Key facts: WHO; 2019 [Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sanitation
Kabir A, Maitrot MRL, Ali A, Farhana N, Criel B. Qualitative exploration of sociocultural determinants of health inequities of Dalit population in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. BMJ Open. 2018; 8(12):e022906. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022906
Kabir A, Maitrot MRL, Kiyu A. Exploring the effects of health shocks on anti-poverty interventions: Experience of poor beneficiary households in Bangladesh. Cogent Medicine. 2018; 5(1).
Bangladesh Planning Commission. Bangladesh Planning Commission Dhaka, Bangladesh2020, Available from: http://www.plancomm.gov.bd/.
Hossain N. Expanding access to education in Bangladesh. Ending Poverty in South Asia: Ideas that Work. 2007; 41181(4):304
Kabir AH, Chowdhury R. ‘Donor logic’, NGOs, the ruling elite and the decolonisation of education in Bangladesh. Governance, Resistance and the Post-Colonial State: Routledge; 2017. p. 162–81
Kabir AH. ‘Network governance’and the formation of the strategic plan in the higher education sector in Bangladesh. Journal of Education Policy. 2021; 36(4):455–79.
Smith L, Butler L, Tully MA, Jacob L, Barnett Y, Lo´pez-Sa´nchez GF, et al. Hand-Washing Practices among Adolescents Aged 12–15 Years from 80 Countries. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020; 18(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010138
Mahmud I, Mbuya N. Water, sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition in Bangladesh: can building toilets affect children’s growth?: World Bank publications; 2015
Hoque BA, Juncker T, Sack R, Ali M, Aziz K. Sustainability of a water, sanitation and hygiene education project in rural Bangladesh: a 5-year follow-up. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 1996; 74 (4):431
Benjamin-Chung J, Sultana S, Halder AK, Ahsan MA, Arnold BF, Hubbard AE, et al. Scaling up a water, sanitation, and hygiene program in rural Bangladesh: the role of program implementation. American journal of public health. 2017; 107(5):694–701. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303686
Dreibelbis R, Winch PJ, Leontsini E, Hulland KR, Ram PK, Unicomb L, et al. The Integrated Behavioural Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: a systematic review of behavioural models and a framework for designing and evaluating behaviour change interventions in infrastructure-restricted settings. BMC Public Health. 2013; 13:1015. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1015
Dreibelbis R, Freeman MC, Greene LE, Saboori S, Rheingans R. The impact of school water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions on the health of younger siblings of pupils: a cluster-randomized trial in Kenya. Am J Public Health. 2014; 104(1):e91–7. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301412
Kabir A, Datta R, Raza SH, Maitrot MRL. Health shocks, care-seeking behaviour and coping strategies of extreme poor households in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill tracts. BMC Public Health. 2019; 19(1):1008. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7335-7
Kabir A, Maitrot MR. Factors influencing feeding practices of extreme poor infants and young children in families of working mothers in Dhaka slums: A qualitative study. PLoS One. 2017; 12(2):e0172119. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172119
Francis JJ, Johnston M, Robertson C, Glidewell L, Entwistle V, Eccles MP, et al. What is an adequate sample size? Operationalising data saturation for theory-based interview studies. Psychology and health. 2010; 25(10):1229–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870440903194015
Kabir A, Datta R, Raza SH, Maitrot MRL. Health shocks, care-seeking behaviour and coping strategies of extreme poor households in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill tracts. BMC Public Health. 2019; 19 (1):1008. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7335-7
Ergin A, Bostanci M, Onal O, Bozkurt AI, Ergin N. Evaluation of students’ social hand washing knowledge, practices, and skills in a university setting. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2011; 19(4):222–6. https://doi.org/10.21101/cejph.a3664
Scott E, Vanick K. A survey of hand hygiene practices on a residential college campus. Am J Infect Control. 2007; 35(10):694–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2007.01.009
Hossain MS, Islam A, Fahad N, Das P, Rahaman A. Basic hygiene and sanitation practices among Bangladeshi university students
Hoque, M. and Rafi, I. K. (2023). Practice and awareness about unused and expired drug disposal among village people and city people in Bangladesh. GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 24(03), 132–139. Doi: https://doi.org/10.30574/gscbps.2023.24.3.0377
Meadows E, Le Saux N. A systematic review of the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers for prevention of illness-related absenteeism in elementary school children. BMC Public Health. 2004; 4:50. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-4-50
Hoque M. (2023). Unveiling the silent threat: Food adulteration in Bangladesh. International Journal of Biological Innovations. 5(2): 22-27. https://doi.org/10.46505/ IJBI.2023.5203
Pickering AJ, Davis J, Blum AG, Scalmanini J, Oyier B, Okoth G, et al. Access to waterless hand sanitizer improves student hand hygiene behavior in primary schools in Nairobi, Kenya. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2013; 89(3):411–8. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.13-0008
Definition of sanitation in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on November 17, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
Conant, Jeff (2005). Sanitation and Cleanliness for a Healthy Environment (PDF). Berkeley, California, USA: The Hesperian Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sida. p. 6.
Iftear Kazim Rafi et al (2023). The Impact of Banana Consumption on Bangladeshi Rickshaw Pullers' Assessing Cholesterol, Liver and Blood Pressure Functions. Middle East Res J Biological Sci, 3(2): 24-28. Doi: 10.36348/merjbs.2023.v03i02.001
Oseyemi, F. H. (2023). Appraising the Knowledge and the Practice of Food Safety Procedure and Hygiene among Food Vendors in Akure South Local Government. American Journal of Physical Education and Health Science. 1(1): 31-38.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2024 Bithe Saha, Majedul Hoque, Anupam Sarker Avi, Asim Das
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.