Evaluation of Student Handwashing Practices During a School-Based Hygiene Program in Rural Western Kenya, 2007
Abstract
Unsafe drinking water and inadequate handwashing facilities in primary schools increase the risk of absenteeism due to diarrhea and respiratory infections. To mitigate these risks, we provided 28 schools in rural Western Kenya with handwashing and drinking water stations (containers with lids and taps on metal stands), bleach for water treatment, soap for handwashing, and educational materials. We observed the use of the water stations and assessed teachers’ attitudes toward the intervention. Of 151 total handwashing stations, 69 (59%) were observed to have soap and water and treated drinking water 4 months after implementation; observations of pupils showed an increase in handwashing behavior in water stations located < 10 m, as compared with those >10 m, from latrines ( p < .02). In focus groups, teachers reported improved cleanliness and decreased illness in pupils. Teacher training and installation of water stations resulted in observed improvements in pupils’ hygiene, particularly when water stations were located <10 m from latrines.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
All of the 13 publications that examined changes in WASH knowledge, attitudes and hygiene behaviours reported evidence of positive change among students in intervention schools including hand-washing with soap or sanitizer, improved knowledge of WASH-related diseases, and improved hygiene habits.
“All of the 13 publications that examined changes in WASH knowledge, attitudes and hygiene behaviours reported evidence of positive change among students in intervention schools including hand-washing with soap or sanitizer [8,16,29,30,31], improved knowledge of WASH-related diseases, and improved hygiene habits [7,13].”
From Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools in Low-Income Countries: A Review of Evidence of Impact (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
Cites
Prüss‐Ustün, A., Bartram, J., Clasen, T., Colford, J. M., Cumming, O., Curtis, V., Bonjour, S., Dangour, A. D., De France, J., Fewtrell, L., et al. (2014) · Tropical Medicine & International Health · doi:10.1111/tmi.12329 · Cited by 1,198 · see citing works
Effect of hand hygiene on infectious disease risk in the community setting: a meta-analysis
Aiello, A. E., Coulborn, R. M., Perez, V., & Larson, E. L. (2008) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2007.124610 · Cited by 796 · see citing works
Freeman, M. C., Stocks, M. E., Cumming, O., Jeandron, A., Higgins, J. P. T., Wolf, J., Prüss‐Ustün, A., Bonjour, S., Hunter, P. R., Fewtrell, L., et al. (2014) · Tropical Medicine & International Health · doi:10.1111/tmi.12339 · Cited by 524 · see citing works
Freeman, M. C., Greene, L. E., Dreibelbis, R., Saboori, S., Muga, R., Brumback, B., & Rheingans, R. (2012) · Tropical Medicine & International Health · doi:10.1111/j.1365-3156.2011.02927.x · Cited by 228 · see citing works
BOWEN, A., MA, H., OU, J., BILLHIMER, W., LONG, T., MINTZ, E., HOEKSTRA, R. M., & LUBY, S. (2007) · The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2007.76.1166 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
O'REILLY, C. E., FREEMAN, M. C., RAVANI, M., MIGELE, J., MWAKI, A., AYALO, M., OMBEKI, S., HOEKSTRA, R. M., & QUICK, R. (2008) · Epidemiology and Infection · doi:10.1017/s0950268807008060 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Self-citationDreibelbis, R., Kroeger, A., Hossain, K., Venkatesh, M., & Ram, P. (2016) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph13010129 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Blanton, E., Ombeki, S., Oluoch, G. O., Mwaki, A., Wannemuehler, K., & Quick, R. (2010) · The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2010.09-0422 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Self-citationPickering, A. J., Davis, J., Blum, A. G., Scalmanini, J., Oyier, B., Okoth, G., Breiman, R. F., & Ram, P. K. (2013) · The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · doi:10.4269/ajtmh.13-0008 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
McMichael, C. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16030359 · Cited by 220 · see citing works
“27 La Con et al.2017 [31] Kenya Mixed-method cross-sectional study 28 schools Handwashing and drinking water stations (containers with lids and taps on metal stands), bleach for water treatment, soap for handwashing, teacher-training, and educational materials.”
Background
- Authors
- La Con, G., Schilling, K., Harris, J., Person, B., Owuor, M., Ogange, L., Faith, S., & Quick, R.
- Affiliations
- Waterborne Diseases Prevention Branch, Division of Food, Water, and Environmental Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
- Safe Water and AIDS Project, Kisumu, Kenya
- Corresponding author
- Quick, Robert
- Venue
- International Quarterly of Community Health Education
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-01
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 121-128
- ISSN
- 0272-684X (ISSN-L)
- 1541-3519
- OpenAlex
- W2611234948
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 0.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Quarterly of Community Health Education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- United States Agency for International Development
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Speech and Hearing › School Health and Nursing Education
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food Safety and Hygiene
- Keywords
- handwashing behavior, hand washing station, drinking water treatment, bleach, soap, water stations, latrines, diarrhea, respiratory infections, school absenteeism, teacher attitudes, hygiene education, rural schools, Western Kenya
- MeSH terms
- Teacher Training, Attitude, Chlorides, Female, Hand Disinfection, Health Education, Humans, Inservice Training, Kenya, Male, Rural Population, Soaps, Drinking Water
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
