Publication:

Knowledge of personal hygiene and waterborne diseases and practice of personal hygiene among students of Central Agricultural University, Manipur, India

Background Adverse health outcomes are associated with ingestion of unsafe water and poor personal hygiene. Approximately 3.1% of deaths (1.7 million) and 3.7% of  DALYs (54.2 million) worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, poor sanitation and poor personal hygiene.

Methods This was a cross sectional study conducted among students of Central Agricultural University, Imphal during the period of 18/3/2014 to 4/4/2014. Data was collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Data entry and analysis was done using IBM SPSS version-21.

Results About 85.5% of the respondents knew correctly the meaning of personal hygiene. Nearly half of the respondents said that diarrhea can be prevented by maintaining good personal hygiene but only 5.8% of the respondents said that skin diseases can be prevented. Out of the 7 steps of proper hand washing, only 2 steps were known to the respondents. About 56.5% of the respondents knew the meaning of water borne diseases. Diarrhea was the most common water borne disease known to majority (63.5%) of the respondents. Only 34.4% of the respondents had the habit of washing hands after work and only 9.4% of the respondents washed their hands after playing.

Conclusions It is recommended to conduct further studies to assess their personal hygiene practices in detail and demonstrate them proper hand washing and hygiene practices.