Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh

Water, Sanitation, Governance

Outline India undertook a formative evaluation with WaterAid India to gauge the awareness and practices of hand hygiene and its importance across 64 villages.

The study, based in Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, explored the existing hand hygiene practices at the individual and household levels in rural communities. It sought to ascertain access to hand hygiene facilities at the household level and to identify the facilitators and barriers to hand hygiene practices. After extensive pre-testing and tool review, spot observations and in-depth interviews were conducted in 1280 households across 64 villages, operationalized using the mWater platform to record and analyse data.

The objective of the study was:

● To gauge the awareness of hand hygiene and its importance

● To explore hand hygiene practices at the individual and household level

● To ascertain access to hand hygiene facilities (soap and water) at the household level through spot observation

● To identify the facilitators and barriers to hand hygiene practices.