Hygiene and health: An epidemiologic link?

Larson, Elaine; Aiello, Allison E.

doi:10.1067/mic.2001.115679

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The mean population of the 10 communities was 730 (range 250–1450) and the average number of houses in each community was 66 (range 33–103). The average of 11 people per house in these communities is markedly higher than the national average for indigenous households of 3.5 and the average for all Australian households of 2.6 26. The high levels of crowding and multi-family households means that, when new houses become available in these remote communities, there is a shift from pre-existing to new houses and between pre-existing houses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…The extended nature of indigenous families means that this shift cannot be simply described in terms of rehousing of clearly-defined family units. Allocation of new houses is reportedly based on need and residential history,26 but the definition of need and the way the allocation criteria are applied is unclear. Some members of a pre-existing household may move to a new house, and/or some may move to another pre-existing house, and/or some may stay in the same house.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluation of an Australian indigenous housing programme: community level impact on crowding, infrastructure function and hygiene

Bailie¹,

McDonald

Stevens

et al. 2010

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health

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Background and AimHousing programmes in indigenous Australian communities have focused largely on achieving good standards of infrastructure function. The impact of this approach was assessed on three potentially important housing-related influences on child health at the community level: (1) crowding, (2) the functional state of the house infrastructure and (3) the hygienic condition of the houses.MethodsA before-and-after study, including house infrastructure surveys and structured interviews with the main householder, was conducted in all homes of young children in 10 remote Australian indigenous communities.ResultsCompared with baseline, follow-up surveys showed (1) a small non-significant decrease in the mean number of people per bedroom in the house on the night before the survey (3.4, 95% CI 3.1 to 3.6 at baseline vs 3.2, 95% CI 2.9 to 3.4 at follow-up; natural logarithm transformed t test, t=1.3, p=0.102); (2) a marginally significant overall improvement in infrastructure function scores (Kruskal–Wallis test, χ2=3.9, p=0.047); and (3) no clear overall improvement in hygiene (Kruskal–Wallis test, χ2=0.3, p=0.605).ConclusionHousing programmes of this scale that focus on the provision of infrastructure alone appear unlikely to lead to more hygienic general living environments, at least in this study context. A broader ecological approach to housing programmes delivered in these communities is needed if potential health benefits are to be maximised. This ecological approach would require a balanced programme of improving access to health hardware, hygiene promotion and creating a broader enabling environment in communities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of an Australian indigenous housing programme: community level impact on crowding, infrastructure function and hygiene

Bailie¹,

McDonald

Stevens

et al. 2010

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health

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“…This could have implications for hand hygiene, since the three primary measures associated with reduced incidence of infections include availability of a clean water supply, adequate disposal of waste (particularly for faeces), and hand hygiene [22]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“HealthKick”: Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

et al. 2012

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BackgroundThis study evaluated the primary school environment in terms of being conducive to good nutrition practices, sufficient physical activity and prevention of nicotine use, with the view of planning a school-based health intervention.MethodsA sample of 100 urban and rural disadvantaged schools was randomly selected from two education districts of the Western Cape Education Department, South Africa. A situation analysis, which comprised an interview with the school principal and completion of an observation schedule of the school environment, was done at all schools.ResultsSchools, on average, had 560 learners and 16 educators. Principals perceived the top health priorities for learners to be an unhealthy diet (50%) and to far lesser degree, lack of physical activity (24%) and underweight (16%). They cited lack of physical activity (33%) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs; 24%) as the main health priorities for educators, while substance abuse (66%) and tobacco use (31%) were prioritised for parents. Main barriers to health promotion programmes included lack of financial resources and too little time in the time table. The most common items sold at the school tuck shops were crisps (100%), and then sweets (96%), while vendors mainly sold sweets (92%), crisps (89%), and ice lollies (38%). Very few schools (8%) had policies governing the type of food items sold at school. Twenty-six of the 100 schools that were visited had vegetable gardens. All schools reported having physical activity and physical education in their time tables, however, not all of them offered this activity outside the class room. Extramural sport offered at schools mainly included athletics, netball, and rugby, with cricket and soccer being offered less frequently.ConclusionThe formative findings of this study contribute to the knowledge of key environmental and policy determinants that may play a role in the health behaviour of learners, their parents and their educators. Evidently, these show that school environments are not always conducive to healthy lifestyles. To address the identified determinants relating to learners it is necessary to intervene on the various levels of influence, i.e. parents, educators, and the support systems for the school environment including the curriculum, food available at school, resources for physical activity as well as appropriate policies in this regard.

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“…After review of the full text of these studies, 21 were excluded for the following reasons: no outcomes of 7 records identified through reference list handsearching (26,38,(42)(43)(44)(45)(46) 21 failed to meet inclusion criteria (23-26, 28-30, 32-40, 42-46) Inappropriate intervention (23- 26,34,33,37,38,43) Inappropriate study design (36,39,40) Inappropriate outcome (28) Inappropriate population (44) Not relevant (29,30,32,35,42) Review (45,46) 4 eligible studies identified (10,27,31,41) INITIAL MANUSCRIPT n = 25 (10, 2 eligible studies identified (15,16) after manuscript submission interest (n = 1), inappropriate population (n = 1), inappropriate interventions (n = 9), inappropriate study design (n = 3), irrelevant subject matter (n = 5), and review (n = 2). Thus, a total of 4 trials fulfilled the inclusion criteria [10,27,31,41].…”

Section: Description Of Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers for prevention of illness-related absenteeism in elementary school children

Meadows

Saux

2004

BMC Public Health

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BackgroundAbsenteeism due to communicable illness is a major problem encountered by North American elementary school children. Although handwashing is a proven infection control measure, barriers exist in the school environment, which hinder compliance to this routine. Currently, alternative hand hygiene techniques are being considered, and one such technique is the use of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers.MethodsA systematic review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer interventions in the elementary school setting. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biological Abstract, CINAHL, HealthSTAR and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched for both randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Absenteeism due to communicable illness was the primary outcome variable.ResultsSix eligible studies, two of which were randomized, were identified (5 published studies, 1 published abstract). The quality of reporting was low. Due to a large amount of heterogeneity and low quality of reporting, no pooled estimates were calculated. There was a significant difference reported in favor of the intervention in all 5 published studies.ConclusionsThe available evidence for the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer in the school environment is of low quality. The results suggest that the strength of the benefit should be interpreted with caution. Given the potential to reduce student absenteeism, teacher absenteeism, school operating costs, healthcare costs and parental absenteeism, a well-designed and analyzed trial is needed to optimize this hand hygiene technique.

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Hygiene and health: An epidemiologic link?

Cited by 15 publications

References 42 publications

Evaluation of an Australian indigenous housing programme: community level impact on crowding, infrastructure function and hygiene

Evaluation of an Australian indigenous housing programme: community level impact on crowding, infrastructure function and hygiene

“HealthKick”: Formative assessment of the health environment in low-resource primary schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

A systematic review of the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers for prevention of illness-related absenteeism in elementary school children

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