Improved Handwashing Behavior Difficult to Sustain

Two years after an intervention to promote handwashing ended, rates of diarrhea were similar between control and intervention groups.

Prospective studies have shown that interventions promoting regular handwashing reduce diarrheal and respiratory diseases among populations in developing countries (JW Infect Dis Aug 5 2005). But can these behaviors be sustained?

In a 2003 trial conducted in squatter settlements in Karachi, Pakistan, provision of free soap and weekly visits to encourage handwashing were associated with a 53% lower incidence of diarrhea. Researchers (with support from the CDC and Procter & Gamble) returned to the same settlements in 2005 — 18 months after the first study ended — to assess current behavior. No interventions related to handwashing had been done in the interim.

Of 810 households in the original study, 577 were reenrolled for follow-up evaluation.…

Reviewing Author

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine

Mary E. Wilson, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardOneHealthTrust (formerly Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy); Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Editorial BoardsJournal of Travel Medicine