The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) conducted a baseline evaluation for a large intervention project [SHEWA-B: Sanitation, Hygiene Education and Water supply-Bangladesh] that has a primary objective of promoting handwashing with soap or ash at key times–before preparing food, before eating or feeding a child, after defecating and after cleaning an infant who has defecated. In 100 randomly selected communities in 34 districts of Bangladesh, field workers observed the proportion of persons who washed their hands and 2 months later returned to the same communities and interviewed residents about their handwashing behavior. Among the 20,546 key times observed, study subjects washed their hands 11,800 (55%) of the time, though in only 350 episodes (1.7%) did they wash both hands with soap or ash. Efforts to improve handwashing in Bangladesh need to focus on transforming people’s hand rinsing practice into thorough handwashing with soap.
Read more: Health and science bulletin, vol. 6, no. 3, Sep 2008
See also: Health impact: 20 to 50 per cent of children and hard core poor defecate in the open, Bangladesh survey shows, Source Weekly, 12 Jun 2008
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