PERSONAL HYGIENE AMONG SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN IN AURANGABAD CITY : A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Introduction : Personal hygiene in the formative years plays a major role to promote healthy life in children. This study was performed to assess practicing behaviour in regard to basic hygiene practices like hand washing, bathing, tooth brushing etc. in school children of 5- 10th standard. Methodology : A team of urban health training centre (UHTC), Govt. Medical College Aurangabad conducted a school health camp in a school in the field practice area of UHTC . Hygiene practices were marked on a scale of 0-10 , where a score of 8-10 meant good and score below 7 represented poor hygiene practices in school children. Results : Out of a total 442 participants 50.22% male and 49.77% females . 179 students had a good hygiene practice (score 8-10). Factors significantly associated with hygiene behaviour were age, sex, class of participants, family size , and working status of their mother. Conclusion : The hygiene practices in 59.51 % of the study sample are unsatisfactory. The parents and the school teachers, as constructive shapers of childrens health behaviours, should play a responsible role in early education of children on personal hygiene.