Knowledge on Importance of Hand Washing in an Urban Community in Imphal West, Manipur

Background: Hand washing is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent the spread of many illnesses like common cold, diarrhoea, meningitis, flu, hepatitis A etc. Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Objectives: To assess the knowledge on hand washing among adults in an urban community and to determine the association between hand washing awareness with selected variables of interest like age, sex etc. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among individuals aged 18 years and above in 2015 using structured interview schedule in an urban community of Imphal West district. Data were presented in percentages and Chi-square test was employed to assess association. Results: Out of total 917, majority (91.6%) responded that hand washing can prevent diseases and 53.9% and 17.8% knew diarrhoea/dysentery and ARI respectively as the preventable diseases. Majority of the participants responded that one should wash their hands before eating (93.7%) and after going to toilet (72.2%). Majority (96.2%) reported that handwashing should always be done with water and soap/detergent. Awareness on the importance of hand washing was significantly associated with male gender, younger age group, higher education level, being employed and being unmarried. Conclusion: Though majority of the study participants were aware of the importance of hand washing, knowledge regarding handwashing after critical moments were low. Further study is warranted to explore their practice of hand washing and health education focusing on hand hygiene can be taken up in the community.