Personal hygiene in the school environment and pupil’s perception on the school toilet’s conditions

Abstract

Background School environment is an important determinant of children's health. Safe water and sanitation is one of the time-bound target WHO. Children mostly are not satisfied with conditions in school toilets. Children's perception of the toilet facilities in schools and whether or not this influences their use was investigated. The purpose of this paper is to present results of the survey designed for students of 6th to 8th grades from 68 schools in Vojvodina, Serbia. Methods During the 2014 to 2016 a survey was conducted by the Institute of Public Health of Vojvodina, using the WHO methodology (standardized questionnaires). Children aged 12-14 were tested by anonymous questionnaires. A total of 6732 pupils completed questionnaires (3382 boys (49.5%) and 3450 girls (50.5%)). Results Only 65% of the students use school toilets every day. Satisfaction with the conditions in the toilets was present in only 14.2% of respondents. Lack of toilet paper 95.1%, lack of hygiene in toilets 66.6%, lack of privacy 48.3% were main reasons of dissatisfaction. Regarding hand washing space, students also expressed dissatisfaction in 49.6% of cases (most often reasons were: the lack of soap 86% and inadequate hygiene 49.4%). Three quarters of pupils answered that in the school they regularly learn about good hygiene practices. A third of respondents stated that there is a school team responsible for sanitation, and that in most cases a specific problem is solved. Conclusions Lack of adequate facilities in many investigated schools inhibits children in adopting proper hygienic behavior. The same standards for toilet facilities should apply to all schools. The current renovation program of some public schools provides a unique opportunity to meet the challenges of providing a supportive environment for adoption of healthy behaviors. Acknowledgments: Project supported by Provincial Secretariat for Health Social Policy and Demography of the APV.