A profile of unhygienic habits and related morbidities among primary school children in urban area of Siliguri, West Bengal

Kuntala Ray; Hironmoy Roy; Manasi Chakraborty

Volume : IX, Issue : VI, June - 2020

A profile of unhygienic habits and related morbidities among primary school children in urban area of Siliguri, West Bengal

Kuntala Ray, Hironmoy Roy, Manasi Chakraborty

Abstract :

Background: Major health problems of primary school children in India are ARI, diarrhoea, worm infestation, dental caries disease of skin, hair & eyes etc. Many of these ailments are due to lack of personal cleanliness. To address this problem the present study was done with the following objectives– 1. To find out different type of unhygienic habits among the children of primary school under Siliguri municipal corporation 2. To identify the magnitude of morbidities and its relation with unhygienic habits. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among 319 students over a period of 4 months in 15% of the total primary schools enlisted under Siliguri Municipal Corporation. Pre–designed, pre–tested schedule was used to assess the unhygienic habits and morbidities. Analysis was done using SPSS 12.0 version. Chi sqaure test was used to determine statistical significance. Result & conclusion: Pre–meal hand washing, daily tooth ushing, and regular trimming of nail was not evident in 5%, 9.7% and 41.1% of cases respectively. Among the morbidities dental caries (62.4%), worm infestation (40.8%), and diarrhea (20.4%) were most prevalent. Significant statistical association between dental caries and irregular tooth ushing and also for skin infection and bathing was revealed. Comprehensive health education may solve this problem