Publication:

Study of hygiene practices among school going children in a government school in Kolkata

Background A majority of morbidity and mortality in developing countries is attributed to communicable diseases. 31% of all deaths in Southeast Asia, are caused by infectious disease. Poor health among school children is results from lack of awareness of the health benefits of personal hygiene.

Methods The present cross sectional study was conducted among 440 school children in Government school in Kolkata (WB) over a period of 6 months.

Results We tried to assess the hygiene practices among the school children. Majority of children responded that there were sources of clean water at their houses (94%) and school (84%).

Conclusions The percentage of hygiene practices among school children was found to be satisfactory, however when asked to demonstrate correct hand washing procedure, 86.1% demonstrated the same in an incorrect manner.