Title | Testing a participatory strategy to change hygiene behaviour : face washing in central Tanzania |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 1994 |
Authors | West, S, Lynch, M, Munoz, B, Mmbaga, BBO, Taylor, HR, Kayongoya, A |
Pagination | p. 513-517 : 4 tab. |
Date Published | 1994-01-01 |
Keywords | child health, evaluation, health education, participatory methods, personal washing, sdiafr, sdihyg, tanzania dodoma, trachoma |
Abstract | A participatory strategy to increase face washing was designed and tested in central Tanzania. Changing children?s face washing behaviour is postulated to be important in preventing the transmission of eye disease, particularly blinding trachoma. The strategy used non-formal adult education techniques at neighbourhood level meetings to build a community consensus to keeping children?s faces clean for the prevention of eye disease. Men, women and schoolchildren, traditional healers, and village social groups participated in the intervention. The strategy was evaluated by observing changes in numbers of clean faces of a sample of school children in the village. Clean faces increased from 9 per cent to 33 per cent over the course of a year. Factors which were related to sustained change ion children?s clean faces included distance to water, age of the child, and presence of a corrugated metal roof. Owning cattle was associated with lack of sustainable change in this population. |
Notes | 18 ref. |
Custom 1 | 245.2, 824 |