HYGIENE

Background: Hygiene is very important aspect of health, it helps preventmany diseases. According to WHO, 25% admission to hospitals are due food and water bornediseases which can be prevented through good hygiene practices. Objectives: To check thehygiene status and practices of rural farmer and non-farmer households and to examine thedeterminants of hygiene status. Association between hygiene and diarrhea was also examinedin this study. Study design: Cross sectional study. Research Area: Farmer and non-farmerrural households of Punjab. Period: April 2016 to January 2017. Material and Methods:probability sampling technique was used and a total of 576 households (50% farmer and 50%non-farmer) were surveyed from six districts of Punjab. Responses were obtained using astructured interview scheduled. SPSS version 24 was used for analysis. Results: Mean age forfarmer and non-farmer households was about 50 and 47 years respectively. Mean number ofschooling years for farmer and non-farmer households were 6.2 and 5.1 respectively. Averagemonthly income of farmer and non-farmer households was 24728 and 16432 PKR respectively.About 18% farmer and 27% non-farmer households had low hygiene status. About 11% farmerand 25% non-farmer households did not have any toilet. About 19% farmer and 24% non-farmerhouseholds reported that they had diarrhea at least once in last 6 months. Association betweendiarrhea and hygiene was found significant at p<0.01. Income and education were importantdeterminants of hygiene status for both farmer and non-farmer households. Conclusion:Authors conclude that hygiene status varies for farmer and non-farmer households that can beexplained by the difference in income, education and awareness. It was empirically establishedthat better hygiene helps prevent diarrhea.