Impact of hand washing practices on diarrhoea, morbidity among under-five children in jajmau area of kanpur

Abstract

The present study was designed to find out the prevalence of diarrhoea among under five children in four randomly selected areas of Jajmau, Kanpur and to know the impact of hand washing practices on the childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality. It was observed that the diarrhoeal prevalence was significantly associated with age of child, highest in the age group of 1-3 years belonging to joint families and was also found significantly higher among economically poor Muslim children (66.48%) as compared to Hindu children (43.23%) The diarrhoeal prevalence was observed associated with hand washing practices. The children who did not wash their hands after defecation showed higher prevalence. Even the prevalence was observed higher among those children whose parents did not wash their hands after cleaning the child excreta. The diarrhoeal prevalence was also found higher among those children whose mothers did not wash their hands before feeding the child.