Ali Yawar Alam, Malik Muhammad Adil, Akhtar Ali Qureshi.
Knowledge, attitude and practices survey on hygiene and there impact on health.
Rawal Med J Jan ;33(1):67-70.

Objective: To explore the knowledge, attitude and practices of general community regarding relationship of typhoid fever, diarrheal diseases and hepatitis with unhygienic food, water and un-hygienic practices at two urban slum areas of Islamabad. Methods: A Cross-sectional survey was carried out between October 2003 and April 2004 in two urban squatter settlements of Islamabad, involving 200 households. Socio-demographic characteristics and awareness levels were assessed by uni-variate analysis. Results: 91.5% of the respondents were using un-boiled water mainly because of economic constraints. General community was well aware regarding relationship of typhoid fever, diarrheal diseases and hepatitis with unhygienic food and unboiled water but the practices did not match the level of knowledge. Among children, jaundice (signifying hepatitis) was the most prevalent sign with 1.7±0.3 episodes per year. Among adults, typhoid fever was most prevalent with 1.2±0.1 episodes per year. Conclusions: Community was well aware of the un-hygienic practices and diseases associated with them, but were un-able to apply the principles of hygiene in their daily lives. Provision of safe drinking water to these communities can reduce burden of diseases substantially. Reinforcement messages to the community with respect to modulating their daily lives on the principles of hygiene, which are easy to follow, need to be given. (Rawal Med J 2008;33:67-70).

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