EFFECT OF HAND WASHING ON THE PREVENTION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

EFFECT OF HAND WASHING ON THE PREVENTION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPITRE ONE

INTRODUCTION

The Study’s Context

Hand cleaning is one of the most important parts of illness prevention in our country, Nigeria; thousands of lives have been lost as a result of diseases caused by insufficient hand washing. Hand washing, often known as hygiene, is the process of wiping one’s hands with water and soap or another liquid in order to remove grime, dust, and/or microorganisms (CDC) (2013).

According to the CDC (2013), hand washing is the act of washing one’s hands with antiseptic soap or detergent.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hand washing is the act of preventing or limiting the growth of microorganisms by applying an antiseptic hand drop or performing antiseptic hand washing.

Hand washing is also defined by the WHO as the act of performing hand hygiene in order to physically or mechanically remove dust, organic debris, and microorganisms.

As stated by WHO (2002), hand washing is the first and foremost method of disease prevention because it is said to remove or inhibit the growth of microorganisms. Furthermore, hand washing frequently acts as vectors that carry disease-causing pathogenic from person to person either through direct contact or indirect contact via surface. Humans can spread bacteria through touching the hands, hair, nose, and face of another. Hands in contact with human faces, physiological fluids such as nasal discharge, and contaminated food or water can all convey bacteria, viruses, and parasites to the host. Hand washing with soap works by interpreting disease transmission. In terms of germ removal, washing hands with water alone is substantially less effective than washing hands with soap. Using soap also adds time to the massage, rabbis, and friction to remove them from the fingers’ tips and between the fingers. When compared to simply using water for hand cleaning, effective soap hand washing takes 8 – 15 seconds, followed by thorough rising with running water. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), your hands are your primary means of physical engagement with the world around you. When you touch something, you pick up germs with your hand and then touch your face. You could unintentionally bring disease-causing microorganisms into your body. Hand washing is a simple and efficient approach to avoid obtaining or spreading a variety of infectious diseases such as the common cold, food poisoning, respiratory illness, diarrhoea, and vomiting, among others.

According to the CDC (2013), hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent the transmission of infection and disease in general. Children’s settings and workplaces include facilities and hospitals. Germs can be prevented from spreading from one person to another and throughout the community by using clean hands.

According to WHO (2010), investigations conducted in the mid-1800s by Igan Z Semmel Wels in Vierina, Australia, and Oliver Wenden Holmes in Boston, USA established that hospital acquired infections were spread through the hands of health community workers. In 1847, Semmel Wels was appointed as a house officer in one of the University of Vienna’s two obstetric clinics, the Allgemeino Kranken (General Hospital). He discovered that the maternal mortality rate, which was largely caused by puerperal fever, was significantly greater in one clinic than the other (16% against 2%).

He also observed that after doing autopsies, doctors and medical students frequently head straight to the delivery suit, despite hand cleaning with soap and water before entering the clinic.

He hypothesized that cadaverous paticidts were transported from the autopsy room to the delivery theatre via the hands of doctors and students, causing the puerperal.

As a result, Semmel Wels recommended that hands be scribed in chlorinated line solution before any patient contact, especially after living in the autopsy room. Following the implementation of these measures, the mortality rate dropped dramatically to 33% in the clinic most affected and remained low thereafter.

Hand washing, as a general rule, protects people poorly or not at all from drop lifts and airborne infections like measles, chicken pox, influenza, and tuberculosis. It is most effective against infections transmitted orally.

Certain products or chemicals are utilized in hand washing and disease prevention, such as:

1. Laundry soap and detergent

2. Ashes and mold

3. Antiseptic for the hands

4. Effective antiseptic

5th. Antibacterial soap

6. Gel containing alcohol

Hand washing with soap (H.W.W.SP) is one of the most efficient and cost-effective methods of avoiding diarrhea and pneumonia, which combined account for the majority of infant deaths. This behavior is expected to be a significant contributor to meeting the Millennium Development Goals of reducing death among children under the age of five by one-third by the year, 2015, in accordance with the United Nations’ designation of 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation (WHO, 2013).

Statement of the Issue

Many illnesses are unnecessary because the faces-oral route of disease transmission is easily avoided (WHO, 2013). The common cold and severe gastro-intestinal disorders such as diarrhoea, ebola, and vomiting are examples of infectious diseases that are widely conveyed by hand-to-hand contact (Water Aid, 2006).

Without a question, hygiene is a critical component in reducing the worldwide illness burden. Hand washing has been highly recommended as a simple yet effective method of hygiene (hand washing) has a measurable influence on reducing the burden of infection in underdeveloped countries.

The single most efficient way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases is proper hand washing. Hand washing procedures are simple to learn and can greatly minimize illness transmission in both adults and children. Hand washing is one of several hygiene campaigns that take place around the world. The impact of hand washing in public schools in Kaura Ward, Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State, would be the subject of this study.

The Purpose of the Research

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of hand washing on the prevention of infectious illnesses in public secondary schools. Among the specific goals are:

1. Determine the level of awareness about the benefits of hand washing in illness prevention in Kaura Ward public secondary schools.

2. To identify hand washing practices among pupils in public schools in Zaria LGA.

3. To identify diseases linked to poor hand washing in public secondary schools in Kaura Ward, Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State.

The Importance of the Research

The study’s goal is to raise awareness about the importance of hand washing among students in public secondary schools in Kaura Ward, Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State. The following persons will benefit from the research.

1. Schoolchildren, if the findings of this study are approved and applied, hand washing awareness will improve and the rate of illness among students in public secondary schools will be reduced.

2. To the public, improved awareness and better hand washing practices will lower the rate of illness transmission associated with poor hand washing among students and, as a result, the incidence of extending to the public.

3. The community’s death rate as a result of diseases associated to hand washing would decrease, as will the expense of treatment and the rate of poverty. Is there a distinction between the public and the community?

4. For the government, the cost of treatment will be reduced, mortality will be reduced, and it will also function as a literary item in the library and an instrument for informing the general public about the benefits of hand washing.

Research Issues

1. What is the level of awareness about the benefits of hand washing in illness prevention in public secondary schools in Kaura Ward, Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State?

2. How do pupils in public schools in Kaura Ward, Zaria Local Government Area, wash their hands?

3. What diseases are related with poor hand washing practices among students at Kaura Public Secondary School in Zaria Local Government Area?

The Study’s Scope

The scope of this study is limited to the influence of hand washing on disease prevention in public secondary schools in Kaura Ward, Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State.