Proper hand washing practice among mothers and occurrence of diarrhoea among family members.

A cross-sectional analytic study was done to determine the self-reported prevalence of proper hand washing practice among mothers and its relationship with the occurrence of diarrhoea among family members in Mandalay during 2011. Altogether 829 mothers (one from each household) from Chan-Aye-Tharzan and Mahar-Aung-Myay townships were selected by using systematic random sampling procedure. Face to face interview method was used to collect the necessary data. The prevalence of proper hand washing practice as reported among mothers was almost 80% (95% CI = 76.6%, 82.1%) but the occurrence of diarrhoea reported among her family members including herself within past one year was 18.2% (95% CI = 15.7%, 20.9%). Family income (p = 0.006) and education status (p = 0.048) were found to have significant effects on reported practices of proper hand washing. Moreover, proper hand washing practice by mothers was found to have significant effect on the occurrence of diarrhoea among all family members including herself (p < 0.001). It was apparent that if the mother washed her hands properly, the annual occurrence of diarrhoea would be reduced among the whole family (48% of current occurrence), among other family members (53%) and herself (50%). Although proper hand washing practice among mothers is satisfactory, habit of this hygienic behavior should be promoted in the whole country to prevent episodes of diarrhoea especially giving priority to low income households and mothers with low education status.