Effectiveness Of Tippy Tap As Appropriate Technology For Handwashing In Low Resource Settings In India

Abstract

Background-

Hand washing is one of the simplest, most affordable, and effective means of stopping the spread of infection. It is easy to learn how to wash your hands and how to stop the spread of infection by washing the germs away. It is estimated that washing hands with soap and water could reduce diarrheal disease-associated deaths by up to 50%.Handwashing can reduce the risk of respiratory infections by 16%. Low resources are a challenge, in places like school  if this challenge is met with the use of appropriate technology, reduction in infectious diseases will be seen. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Tippy Tap as appropriate technology to increase handwashing in school children.

Methodology-

            School based interventional study was conducted over 3 months with the study area being 10 government schools of Bhopal District. Sampling techniques- random selection 5 urban schools, 5 rural schools. A total of 580 students were registered in the study with their consent. Knowledge and Practice regarding handwashing was assessed ,then a tippy tap was installed and handwashing practices assessed.

Result-

A total of 580 students were registered for the study form 10 schools. Two schools were not having handwashing facility, so they were provided with Tippy Tap a sanitary handwashing system. The overall preintervention score in urban area was 81.6 % and in rural was 58.04 %. In post intervention assessment improvement in scores were substantial. The urban area school students had a mean score of 92% while of rural area students scored 77.1% which was a significant improvement. In preintervention assessment the mean score of urban area came out to be 77.5 % and that of rural schools 57.3 %. In post intervention the score was 90.5 % and 74.9 % of urban and rural respectively.

Conclusion-

            The facilities of the urban school were up to the mark and the students had adequate knowledge about hand washing techniques. The rural schools had poor infrastructure and the pre-interventional knowledge of the students was low. After the intervention there was significant improvement in their knowledge and the facilities of hand washing provided to the students.