Gingival Recession, Oral Hygiene and Associated Factors Among Tanzanian Women.

Females are generally more motivated with regard to oral hygiene practices and thus brush their teeth more frequently than males. To determine the prevalence of gingival recession, oral hygiene status, oral hygiene practices and associated factors in women attending a maternity ward in Tanzania. Cross-sectional descriptive study. Maternity ward of Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania. Four hundred and forty six women were interviewed on oral hygiene practices and maternal factors, and a full-mouth examination was done to determine the presence of plaque, calculus, gingival bleeding and gingival recession at six sites per tooth. The prevalence of gingival recession (GR) > or =1 mm was 33.6%, calculus 99.3%, plaque 100%, and gingival bleeding 100%. Oral hygiene practices included toothbrushing (98.9%), brushing frequency > or =2 times/day (61.2%), horizontal brushing method (98%), and using a plastic toothbrush (97.8%). Factors that were significantly associated with gingival recession were age (OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.3-3.2), presence of calculus (OR(a) = 3.8, 95% CI=2.5-7.1), and gingival bleeding on probing (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 2.5-7.1). Tooth cleaning practices and maternal factors, especially the number of pregnancies or deliveries were not significantly associated with gingival recession. In this study population, oral hygiene was poor and gingival recession was associated with age, calculus and gingival inflammation rather than with tooth cleaning practices

Is Menstrual Hygiene and Management an Issue for Adolescent School Girls?

Presents survey findings about Nepali school girls' knowledge and experience of menstrual hygiene and management. Considers implications for reproductive health and efforts to achieve development goals. Calls for steps to enable proper hygiene practices

Minimization of Illness Absenteeism in Primary School Students Using Low-Cost Hygiene Interventions

Objective: Safe water and hygiene intervention was evaluated to assess its impact on students’ health, hygiene practices and reduction in illness absenteeism in primary school students. Method: After evaluatingprimary schools of Amravati district; 50 students with high enteric illness absenteeism were selected for study. Families with problem of in-house water contamination were provided earthen pot with tap for water storage and soap for hand washing at school and home. Household drinking waters (before and after intervention) were analyzed for potability. Results: By adopting correct water storage (water container with tap), handling and hand washing practices found to improve health and reduction in 20% illness absenteeism in school. Promoting these interventions and improvement in water-behavioral practices prevented in-house-water contamination. Conclusion: These low cost intervention (water storage container with tap) promises to reducing school absenteeism by minimizing risk of transmission of enteric infections by promoting water and student hygiene

Hygiene: new hopes, new horizons.

Although promotion of safe hygiene is the single most cost-effective means of preventing infectious disease, investment in hygiene is low both in the health and in the water and sanitation sectors. Evidence shows the benefit of improved hygiene, especially for improved handwashing and safe stool disposal. A growing understanding of what drives hygiene behaviour and creative partnerships are providing fresh approaches to change behaviour. However, some important gaps in our knowledge exist. For example, almost no trials of the effectiveness of interventions to improve food hygiene in developing countries are available. We also need to figure out how best to make safe hygiene practices matters of daily routine that are sustained by social norms on a mass scale. Full and active involvement of the health sector in getting safe hygiene to all homes, schools, and institutions will bring major gains to public health

The constraints to good child care practices in Accra

Life in urban areas presents special challenges for maternal child care practices. Data from a representative survey of households with children less than 3 years of age in Accra were used to test a number of hypothesized constraints to child care, including various maternal (education, employment, marital status, age, health, ethnic group, migration status) and household-level factors (income, calorie availability, quality of housing and asset ownership, availability of services, household size, and crowding). An age-specific child care index was created using recall data on maternal child feeding practices and use of preventive health services. A hygiene index was created from spot check observations of proxies of hygiene behaviors. Multivariate analyses showed that maternal schooling was the most consistent constraint to both the care and the hygiene index. None of the household-level characteristics were associated with the care index, but better housing quality and access to garbage collection services were associated with better hygiene. Female head of household and larger family size were associated with poorer hygiene. The programmatic implications of these findings for nutrition education and behavior change interventions in Accra are discussed. The focus is on using the information to target the right practices to be modified as well as the main constraints to their adoption.FCND ,Child care. ,Ghana. ,Maternal and infant welfare Developing countries. ,Urban health. ,

Behavioral Determinants of Handwashing with Soap Among Mothers and Caretakers: Emergent Learning from Senegal and Peru

This project tested whether innovative promotional approaches to behavior change can generate widespread and sustained improvements in household hygiene practices. Its objective was to ascertain the key factors that influence havior change

An approach to hygiene education among rural Indian school going children

Objectives: To find out the prevalence of intestinal parasites and its epidemiological correlates among rural Indian school going (6-14 years) children and to study the effect of focused, need based child to child hygiene education on personal hygiene of school children. Materials and Methods: In September 2007, the present participatory action research was undertaken at a feasibly selected village Dhotra (Kasar) in Wardha district of central India. A triangulated research design of quantitative (survey) and qualitative (transect walk & pile sorting) methods was used for the needs assessment before initiating formal hygiene education. Out of enlisted 172 children, data of 118 children with complete information was used for final analysis. The quantitative and qualitative data was entered and analyzed using the Epi Info 6.04 software and Anthropac 4.98.1/X software package respectively. School based participatory life skills based child to child hygiene education was undertaken for message dissemination and behavior change. The effect of this hygiene education on identified key behaviors was assessed after one month Results: Out of the 118 (50 male and 68 female) subjects examined 21 (17.8%, 95%CI, 11.4 – 25.9%) had intestinal parasite infection. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was significantly high among children having dirty untrimmed nails (47.4%, 95%CI, 30.9 – 64.1%) followed by those having poor hand washing practices (37.2%, 95%CI, 22.9 – 53.2%). One month after hygiene education, the proportion of children having practice of hand washing with soap after defecation significantly improved from 63.6 % to 78%. The proportion of clean and cut nails also improved from 67.8% to 80 % (p<0.05). Conclusions: The need based, focused, life skills based child to child hygiene education was effective for behavior change. An integrated approach of drug treatment and focused participatory hygiene education is required to control parasite load among rural Indian school going children

Leading by example: A three-wave sequential mixed method food safety study

(Best Paper Award/ 253 submissions) According to the most recent government data, approximately 61% of foodborne illness outbreaks were attributed to lack of personal hygiene and improper food handling by employees in the foodservice industry. Foodservice employees fail to adhere to safe food preparation practices, may directly introduce pathogens that can cause illness and death. Few qualitative studies have examined the barriers of effective managerial practices that influence employee’s food safety behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to explore employees’ perspectives about managerial practices that influence their food safety behaviors