Author(s)

Najim Sekh^1*, Rukma Shekh², Krishna Kaphle³, Irshad Alam Ansari⁴

¹Himalayan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (HICAST), Kathmandu, Nepal.
²Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Shaheed Smriti Multiple Campus, Chitwan, Nepal.
³Department of Theriogenology, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Paklihawa Campus, Paklihawa, Nepal.
⁴Department of Nephrology, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan.

The objective of this research was to assess handwashing habits nearly 5 years ago among residents of the Chitwan district of Nepal which might be useful at present to tackle COVID-19 emerging cases. The study had employed descriptive cross-sectional design in Ratnanagar and Kalika municipality. Using simple random lottery method, 40 people each from Tandi and Shaktikhor settlements were chosen. Well-structured questionnaire survey was employed to get data from people, and later analyzed by Chi-Square (χ²) test. The research had revealed that majority of population were using the soap-water for handwash. Interestingly, a higher number of people were washing hands after toiler visit than before having meals. It was a key finding that handwashing habit should be improved by people after coughing and sneezing as only 12.5% and 5% people living at Tandi and Shaktikhor settlement respectively were washing hands after coughing and sneezing (p < 0.00001). Finally, there were no significant differences between the number of people washing hands and the time taken per handwash session as measured interval of 0 - 5, 5 - 10, 10 - 15 or 15 - 20 seconds at both sites which implied that quick handwashing habits were prevailing. In conclusion, reassessment of handwashing habits to make people aware on hand hygiene parameters like total time investment per session, and handwashing frequency per day may be advantageous to tackle the COVID-19 growing cases in Nepal.

COVID-19, Toilet, Coughing, Handwash Session, Handwash Frequency

Sekh, N. , Shekh, R. , Kaphle, K. and Ansari, I. (2022) Handwashing Habits before Pandemic COVID-19 in the Chitwan District of Nepal and Implication for COVID-19 Control. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 10, 471-478. doi: 10.4236/jss.2022.1011030.