Perceived Barriers of Hands Washing Practices during Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak (Sudan)

Hands washing practice is the simple and important procedure to reduce the spread of infection in the community and health care settings. Objective: To explore barriers of hands washing practices among people in Sudan. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study was conducted among Sudanese population immediately after the lockdown of Sudan states. Data was collected online by close ended questionnaire. Relying on authors' networks with local people living in Khartoum and other states using, such as Whats App messengers and face-book accounts. Results: result showed that 41.1% of the respondents washing their hands with water only while 87.9% washed them with soap and water. Work over load was the main barrier for hand washing (34%)followed by, shortage of water and soap(22%), laziness (10.6%),lack of hand washing facilities (10.6%), lack of time (7.1%) while 5.7 % of the respondents believe that their hands were not dirty enough to get infected. Length of time of washing hands among the respondents was reported as follows: 1-5sec, (9.2%), 6-10 sec (16.3%), 11-15 sec (14.9%), 16-20sec (28.4%), and more than 20 second (31.2%). Number of times spending in washing hands with soap under running water was reported as follows 6.4% one time /day, 27 % (2-4/day), 30.5 %(5-7/day) while 36.1% washed their hands regularly. Conclusion and recommendation: The study concluded that, the majority of the respondents washed their hand with soap and water. Work over load was the main barrier to hand washing followed by, shortage of water and soap. Significant association was found between age, education and occupation with perceived barriers to hand washing. The recommended, public needs to be continuously encouraged to engage in proper hands washing practices and eliminate barriers towards hand hygiene.