Awareness Regarding Hand Hygiene: A Survey Based Study

Background: one of the major factors for preservation and prevention of spread of diseases is Hygiene. Hand hygiene refers to cleaning of hands with soap or water which removes extraneous matter as well as microorganisms from skin. Drying hands properly is also part of hand hygiene as pathogens flourish in wet media. Objective: The purpose of present study was to evaluate awareness regarding hand hygiene in general population, association between infection and hand hygiene, methods adopted by general population for hand hygiene and reasons of noncompliance regarding hand hygiene. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on general population in different age groups (15-50 years) from different universities, hospitals and public places in Karachi to determine their concept of hand hygiene and reasons of non compliance. Results: Our results indicated that majority of population was aware about hand hygiene but wash hands only for specific purposes whereas infants and elderly are more prone to infections due to poor hygiene. Another factor is unavailability of clean water. Conclusion: From above study we found we need to create awareness regarding importance of hand hygiene as factor that can prevent from spread of infections by educating general population (literate and illiterate) through media and seminars and try to take initiatives to make availability of clean water possible