Mobilizing people for improved hygiene practicesthrough hand washing campaigns in Nigeria

摘要

The level of hygiene practices is generally low in Nigeria. There are no available data for measuringhygiene practices? the best information is through proxy indicator of access to hand washing facilitiessuch as water, soap and basin. It is estimated that 43% of the population has access to hand washingfacilities. The poor level of hygiene practices among the people can be attributed to? low level ofawareness? low level of priority and funding of hygiene education and promotion? Weak and poorlyenforced public health laws? Poorly motivated sector professionals and weak human resources.Addressing the poor level of hygiene practices requires mass mobilization of people towards creatingawareness for the desired behavioural change. In Nigeria, hand washing campaigns have beeninstrumental to mobilizing people for improved hygiene practices and based on the successes recorded,the campaigns have been adopted as a major strategy for effective hygiene promotion.