Hand Hygiene Habits of Ghanaian Youths in Accra

Timothy B. Oppong, Haiyan Yang, Cecilia Amponsem-Boateng and Guangcai Duan
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Timothy B. Oppong: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China
Haiyan Yang: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China
Cecilia Amponsem-Boateng: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China
Guangcai Duan: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-9

Abstract: The human palm has been identified as one of the richest habitats for human microbial accommodation making hand hygiene essential to primary prevention of infection. Since the hand is in constant contact with fomites which have been proven to be mostly contaminated, building hand hygiene habits is essential for the prevention of infection. This research was conducted to assess the hand hygiene habits of Ghanaian youths in Accra. This study used a survey as a quantitative method of research. The findings of the study revealed that out of the 254 participants who fully answered the questionnaire, 22% had the habit of washing their hands after outings while only 51.6% had the habit of washing their hands after using the bathroom. However, about 60% of the participants said they sometimes ate with their hands while 28.9% had the habit of eating with the hand very often, a situation that put them at risk of infection from their hands since some participants had poor handwashing habits; prompting the need for continuous education on hand hygiene.

Keywords: hand hygiene; hand hygiene habits; hand washing; hand sanitizer use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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