Effectiveness of water, sanitation and hygiene-based programme on toilet etiquette and sanitation targeted at primary school children of Mumbai

Abstract

Background: As per the WHO-UNICEF monitoring report 2012, around 626 million people, or half of the population of India defecate in the open; this explains the high burden of communicable diseases in developing countries like India. In this context present study attempts to assess the effectiveness of school-based awareness programme on toilette etiquettes and sanitation in primary school-going children (mean age 9.27 years.) of Mumbai city. Methods: This is a comparative, before and after study between the interventional group and the comparison group. The study was carried out between July 2016 to March 2017, end line survey was carried out approximate 3 months after programme intervention for both the groups. Stratified random sampling was used to select 3737 students in baseline and 3230 students in end line from 130 primary schools run by municipal corporation of greater Mumbai (MCGM).Results: Knowledge and attitude significantly improved in the end line than the baseline survey exorbitantly for the interventional group than the comparison group. Although the comparison group also exhibited some improvement but there was a marked difference as when compared to the interventional group.Conclusions: An innovative education cum entertainment intervention programmes on basic health and hygiene habits focused on toilette etiquettes and sanitation was conducted. This has influenced the KAP among primary school children of Mumbai city. Though individual behaviour is difficult to mould, short to medium term effects of innovative programmes like WASH are encouraging.