An assessment of baseline hand washing practice in Malawi and the relevance of proxy indicators

The Government of Malawi has launched a National Hand Washing Campaign in order to coordinate and intensify efforts on hand washing promotion. However, much of the reported data on actual hand washing practice is unreliable and scanty as it often relies on responses to questionnaires which may not reflect actual practice. This study collected qualitative information on hand washing practice in a few selected villages in rural Malawi to help qualify estimates of hand washing practice from quantitative information collected in national surveys. The findings of the study revealed that hand washing occurs regularly in 50% of households with hand washing facilities. The presence of a hand washing facility alone did not predict hand washing practice unless it is filled with water. Hence a better proxy indicator for assessing hand washing practice in Malawi is observing for households with water in their hand washing facility.