1. Title: Knowledge and practices of hygiene and health among people
2. Subtitle: Hygiene practices
3. Authors: Shital B. Palaskar, Nayan N. Patil and Lakshmi Chalwadi.
4. Introduction:
Hygiene is a practice related to lifestyle, cleanliness, health and medicine. Hygiene practices are employed as preventive measures to reduce the incidence and spreading of germs leading to disease. Hygiene practices vary from one culture to another. In the manufacturing of food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other products, good hygiene is a critical component of quality assurance. Other uses of the term are as follows: body hygiene, personal hygiene, sleep hygiene, mental hygiene, dental hygiene, and occupational hygiene, used in connection with public health. For families, good hygiene means avoiding illness and spending less on health care. In some contexts, it can also secure a family’s social status and help individuals maintain self-confidence.
5. Objective:
Understanding the knowledge of people about health and hygiene practices.
6. Literature Review:
6.1. Hygiene practice & behaviour
Hyun, j. Y. et. Al (2021) says the public should receive education around practicing daily personal hygiene habits. From children and adolescents through to childcare centres or school programs and, finally, to adults, personal hygiene practices should be reinforced through the continuous sharing of information through social education or campaigns. Second, during outbreaks, infection prevention practices and information should be shared through various media in a timely manner to allow for people to comply with these practices. However, depending on the culture and context, the interpretations of the same piece of information can vary extensively. Information should be processed and disseminated with consideration of the context of the information recipients. Third, material support reduces the effect of consumers’ self-efficacy for infection prevention on personal hygiene behaviours and product-purchasing behaviours. Thus, because excessive material support can increase the consumers’ reliance on society, the provision of infection prevention products should be dependent on the citizens’ social welfare status.
6.2. Human right to sanitation
According to the WHO, the provision of safe water, sanitation, and hygienic conditions is essential to protecting human health. States have the obligation to guarantee the provision of these essential services considering equality and non-discrimination as a basic human rights principle. The need to deliver water and sanitation services affordable, available, and safe to everyone is not new; however, the scale of the challenge and the urgency due to the health crisis is. In this context, the policymakers and public institutions issued responses aiming the population protection and the financial and economic sustainability of water and sanitation service providers. However, as observed in the Brazilian States policy responses, those WASH related measures did not considered equality and non-discrimination as basic principles.
7.Data collection:
For our problem on hygiene practices, we created a google form comprising all the question we needed to ask. Then we ask girls in SNDT campus to fill the google form which included following questions:
1. I don’t use public washrooms.
2. There are no dustbins on the streets.
3. My locality is clean and waste free.
4. I’m fit and healthy from at least 4 weeks.
5. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables are good for health.
6. I don’t prefer to drink water from public taps.
7. I have a medical insurance.
We got our 100 responses as needed.
(Mean(average), standard deviation (SD), standard error (SE) and z value was calculated using MS excel)
8.Data analysis:
At 95% confidence level,
Table z-value is 1.96.
Hypothesis:
I. If z value is greater than 1.96, accept H1 (positively).
II. If z value is between 1.96 to -1.96, accept H0 (neutral).
III. If z value is less than -1.96, accept H1 (negatively).
The calculated mean, SD, SE and z value of the collected data is in the table 1.1
Question Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7
Mean 0.23 0.02 0.02 0.57 1.65 0.57 0.27
SD 1.20 1.25 1.15 1.12 0.74 1.34 1.28
SE 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.11 0.07 0.13 0.13
Z value 1.92 0.16 0.17 5.08 22.19 4.27 2.11
Table 1.1 Mean, SD, SE and z-value of collected data
Thus, from above data we can say that,
1. For question 1, z value is 1.92 which is between 1.96 to -1.96, accept null hypothesis H0 (neutral).
2. For question 2, z value is 0.16 which is between 1.96 to -1.96 accept null hypothesis H0 (neutral).
3. For question 3, z value is 0.17 which is between 1.96 to -1.96 accept null hypothesis H0 (neutral).
4. For question 4, z value is 5.08 which is greater than 1.96, accept alternate hypothesis (H1) positively.
5. For question 5, z value is 22.19 which is greater than 1.96, accept alternate hypothesis (H1) positively.
6. For question 6, z value is 4.27 which is greater than 1.96, accept alternate hypothesis (H1) positively.
7. For question 7, z value is 2.11 which is greater than 1.96, accept alternate hypothesis (H1) positively.
9.Conclusion:
1. People are neutral towards not using public washrooms.
2. People are neutral about having no dustbins on streets.
3. People are neutral about having clean and waste free locality.
4. People are healthy and fit from at least 4 weeks.
5. People agree that eating fresh fruits and vegetables are good for health.
6. People don’t prefer to drink water from public tabs.
7. People do have medical insurance.
10.References:
Hyun, J. Y. (2021). Effects of personal hygiene habits on self-efficacy for preventing infection, infection-preventing hygiene behaviors, and product-purchasing behaviors. Sustainability, 13(17), 9483. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179483
The human rights to water and sanitation in policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of brazilian states. (2021). Water, 13(2), 228. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020228