Association of wash practices with diarrheal diseases among residential and nonresidential school children at Wardha District: A comparative study

Abstract

Introduction: Sustainable development goals, adopted at the 2015 UN general assembly, aim to significantly boost water and sanitation globally and include two concrete targets for drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) as set out in objective 6. Improved water supply and sanitation results in a reduction of 23% and 36% respectively in morbidity due to diarrhea and an increase of around 2 billion school days. The present study was conducted to assess and to compare the WASH practices and its association with diarrheal diseases in residential and nonresidential schools at Wardha district. Methodology: A cross-sectional school-based study conducted using a prestructured and predesigned questionnaire carried out among residential and nonresidential schools in Wardha district. The study participants were the students of 8–13 years of age group or 3rd–7th standard. Data collection tools were prepared using the World Health Organization standards for WASH in Schools in Low-cost Settings and Monitoring Package developed by UNICEF for WASH in Schools which is adaptable in developing countries. Results: In residential school, out of 240 boys 96 (40%) and out of 231 girl students 30 (12.98%) were suffered from diarrheal disease in the past 3 months of interview. While in nonresidential school out of 178 male students 10 and 12 female students gives a history of diarrheal disease in the past 3 months; this association was statistically nonsignificant. When compared by Binomial Logistic Regression found that in residential school variables like Gender, Not Using “Urinals” provided in the school, Not using soap for washing hands found to be statistically significant, with an odds ratio of 0.433, 1.65, and 4.43, respectively. Conclusion: This study shows that male participants from residential schools have a high incidence of diarrheal disease compared with females from the schools, whereas in nonresidential schools females suffered from diarrheal comparatively more than males; improper water handling practices seem to be more in residential schools than that of nonresidential schools this may be the main reason of getting more incidence of diarrheal diseases in residential school.