Handwashing stations in Nepal: Role of wealth status in establishing handwashing stations at home

Abstract

Handwashing has been proven to be effective at preventing several infectious diseases. This study aims to find out the role of wealth status in establishing handwashing stations in the households of Nepal. This study used secondary data from Nepal Demographic Health Survey in 2016 to assess the association between households' wealth status and handwashing stations. The findings displayed a significant association between the age of the household head, residence place, ecological zone, province, wealth status, having a mosquito net, having a radio and TV in the respondent's household, and fixed handwashing stations at their households at p < 0.001 level. Wealth status has significant effect on fixed handwashing stations (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 12.699; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 10.120–15.935; p < 0.001) in the households. The households with the poorest wealth status (aOR = 9.718; 95% CI = 7.387–12.785; p < 0.001), mountain ecological zone (aOR = 1.325; 95% CI = 1.098–1.599; p < 0.01), Madhesh province (aOR = 2.967; 95% CI = 2.405–3.658; p < 0.001) were significant predictors for not having fixed handwashing stations even after inclusion of socio-covariates. Correspondingly, the presence of mosquito net (aOR = 0.795; 95% CI = 0.692–0.913; p < 0.01), presence of a radio (aOR = 0.758; 95% CI = 0.671–0.857; p < 0.001), and presence of a TV (aOR = 0.762; 95% CI = 0.667–0.871; p < 0.001) had a significant effect on fixed handwashing stations at their households even after inclusion of socio-covariates. The study found households with the poorest wealth quintiles, mountain ecological zone, and Madhesh and Karnali provinces had low fixed handwashing stations. The study suggests more leading interventions to improve public health in this region.