The Era of Coronavirus; Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, and Barriers to Hand Hygiene Among Makerere University Students and Katanga Community Residents

Abstract

Background China reported the Novel Coronavirus at the end of the year 2019 which was, later on, declared a Pandemic by the WHO. Proper hand hygiene was identified as one of the simplest most cost effective Covid-19 control and prevention measures. It is therefore very important to understand the compliance of the community to hand hygiene. Method A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate students of Makerere University and residents of Katanga slum from 17th to 22nd of March, 2020. An interviewer guided questionnaire with questions on knowledge, attitude, practice, and barriers to hand hygiene was used in data collection. The collected data was analyzed using Microsoft office excel 2016 and STATA 15 software. A 95% confidence interval was used and statistical significance was P<0.05. Results Only 8.4% of the participants had good knowledge of hand hygiene. 11.7% of the university students had good knowledge compared to 0.9% of the Katanga residents. 29.0% of the participants had a good attitude while 50.1% had a moderate attitude to hand hygiene. University students were 6.3 times (OR: 6.3, 95%C1: (2.1 18.5), P=0.001) more likely to have good knowledge while Katanga residents were 3.6 times (OR: 3.6, 95%C1: (1.5 8.4), P=0.003) more likely to have good attitude to hand hygiene. Only 19.6% accomplished all the seven steps of handwashing. 38.4% of the participants still greeted by handshaking and 60.1% noted lack of soap as a barrier to hand hygiene and 62.9% reported having more than three barriers to hand hygiene. Participants that had been taught handwashing were more likely to have better hand hygiene knowledge and practice. Conclusion Despite a fair attitude, deficiency of knowledge coupled with many barriers such as Lack of soap hindered the Practice of proper hand hygiene. Public health involvement to promote hand hygiene must be promoted.

Nursing Students’ Perceptions of Barriers to Standard Hand Hygiene Practice Amidst COVID-19 in the Tamale Teaching Hospital of Ghana: A Study conducted on First Degree Rotation Nurses of University for Development Studies

“…Yet 71 (59.2%) mentioned that hand hygiene supplies are inaccessible, hence difficult to practice hand hygiene. These findings were in line with other studies that indicated that the commonest barriers to hand hygiene were lack of soaps, antiseptics, detergents, alcohol sanitizers, lack of running water, and negligence [18]. Other findings that were no different from this assertion were studies that opined that hand hygiene supplies were inadequate and hence acted as barriers to standard hand hygiene practice [8,18].…”

“…Student nurses are often seen to be novice and not capable of effectively complying with standard preventive strategies [17]. A study conducted in Uganda among students of Makerere University and Katanga community residents came out that 8.4% of the participants had good knowledge of hand hygiene [18]. It is, therefore, imperative to assess nursing students' perceptions of barriers to hand hygiene practice amidst COVID-19 because nursing students are the future workforce and their perceptions about hand hygiene barriers would provide an opportunity to address any barriers to hand hygiene practices.…”

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Practices and Challenges during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural Odisha, India

“…The proportion of respondents reporting barriers to handwashing was substantially lower than in a study among students and slum dwellers in Uganda, where 60.1% reported lack of soap, detergents, alcohol-based hand rub, or antiseptic as a barrier to handwashing, and 33.9% reported lack of running water as a barrier. 18 These findings illustrate how the provision of soap and a reliable water supply are needed to enable individuals to practice the promoted preventative measure of handwashing. This is also in line with common behavior change theories, which include the concept of having an enabling physical environment as a requisite for behavioral performance.…”

Water, sanitation, and hygiene practices and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in rural Odisha, India

“…The proportion of respondents reporting barriers to handwashing was substantially lower than a study among students and slum dwellers in Uganda where 60.1% reported lack of soap, detergents, alcohol-based hand rub, or antiseptic as a barrier to handwashing and 33.9% reported lack of running water as a barrier. 18 These findings illustrate how the provision of soap and reliable water supply are needed to enable individuals to practice the promoted preventative measure of handwashing. This is also in line with common behavior change theories which include the concept of having an enabling physical environment as a requisite for behavioral performance.…”