Knowledge and Practices regarding Personal Hygiene in School Going Children of Uttarakhand

Personal hygiene refers to set of individual practices and conditions that help maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases. Maintaining personal hygiene is important for social health, physical health and psychosocial health. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and reported practices of school going children regarding personal hygiene with a view to develop an information booklet. The study adopted cross sectional design to collect data from 410 school going children in rural villages of Haldwani block, Uttarakhand. The children were recruited via convenient sampling technique. It was found that majority (n=230, 56.09%) school going children had moderate knowledge of personal hygiene. The overall practices of children were found to be appropriate for 366 (89.51%) children. Regarding knowledge and hygienic practices, mother' s education plays vital role for school going children. Also, teachers with parents can play a pivotal role in providing health education regarding personal hygiene from early stage of childhood itself for longevity and to protect from illnesses.