Hand Hygiene: major panacea for prevention of the spread of Covid-19 in a Nigerian south-western university

Abstract

Introduction: An essential component of the Covid-19 response and a crucial public health intervention is the promotion of better hand hygiene. While several studies contend that good hand cleanliness is essential for lowering the prevalence of infectious diseases worldwide, college students have been found to inadequately wash their hands, which increases their chances of contracting the Covid-19 virus. This study aims to assess the knowledge and practice of hand hygiene among undergraduates of Osun State University, Osogbo campus.Methods: This study utilized a descriptive cross-sectional design to elicit a response from 271 male and female undergraduates of the University. A 34-item self-developed questionnaire comprising open and closed-ended questions served as the instrument for data collection. Data were analyzed in SPSS 25 using descriptive and inferential statistics at a 0.05 level of significance.Results: The study revealed that half (53%) had a fair knowledge of hand hygiene towards Covid-19 prevention, (51%) had low practice and (41%) perceived unavailability of soap and water as a barrier to its practice. The result also showed that there is a significant relationship between knowledge of hand hygiene and gender (x2=8.681; df=3; P=0.001). Also, a significant relationship exists between knowledge and practice of hand hygiene in the prevention of Covid-19 (x2=144.775, P=0.00). However, there is no significant relationship between the course of study and knowledge of hand washing among respondents (x2= .871, P=0.647).Conclusions: The study revealed that fair knowledge and moderate practice of hand hygiene exists among the respondents, coupled with many barriers such as lack of soap that hindered adequate practice, which calls for careful and immediate action through public health involvement.