Hand Washing Prior To Cooking May Help Reduce Childhood Burden Of Diarrhea

Academic Journal
Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 28 Jun 2011 - 14:00 PDT

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In 2007, Stephen Luby (SPL), Head of the Program on Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Sciences at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB) and colleagues studied hand washing behavior in 347 households from 50 villages across rural Bangladesh. Following the results of their study, they concluded that washing of hands with soap, or simply rinsing hands without soap prior to preparation of food can reduce the occurrence of diarrhea in children.

The results of this study suggest that it may not be realistic to promote the washing of hands with soap alone, and that rinsing only with water can be considered to be one of the many stages involved in good hand hygiene practice. The results further state that it is always better to use soap for washing hands compared to rinsing of hands with water alone.

The authors stated that in order to identify more effective strategies to develop and evaluate handwashing messages, it is important to consider the limited time and limited soap supplies available with low income families. They also state that such handwashing messages must be focused on those behaviors where there is strongest evidence of a health benefit.

Funding - the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and UNICEF Bangladesh collectively funded this research study. UNICEF has provided support in developing the study design, review process and provided input for manuscript preparation. Stephen Luby performed the data analysis, developed the complete manuscript structure and made the decision to publish.

Competing Interests - Procter and Gamble, a global manufacturer of soap, funded SPL, a total of $3.2 million for 13 hand washing and household water treatment research projects between 1996 and 2007.

Citation:
"The Effect of Handwashing at Recommended Times with Water Alone and With Soap on Child Diarrhea in Rural Bangladesh: An Observational Study."
Luby SP, Halder AK, Huda T, Unicomb L, Johnston RB (2011)
PLoS Med 8(6): e1001052. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001052

Written by: Alan Oliveira

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