Household characteristics associated with handwashing with soap in rural Bangladesh.

Hand washing with soap prevents diarrhoea and respiratory disease, but it is rarely practiced in high-need settings. Among 100 randomly selected villages in rural Bangladesh, field workers enrolled 10 households per village and observed and recorded household activities for 5 hours. Field workers observed 761 hand washing opportunities among household members in 527 households who had just defecated or who cleaned a child's anus who had defecated. In the final multivariate analysis, having water available at the place to wash hands after toileting and having soap available at the place to wash hands after toileting were associated with washing both hands with soap after faecal contact. Interventions that improve the presence of water and soap at the designated place to wash hands would be expected to improve hand washing behaviour and health. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2009;81(5):882-7.