any single vaccine or medical intervention. Knowledge regarding the
importance of hand washing is comparatively good in Bangladesh. However,
its practice, especially, during critical times, is very low. A study by the ICDDR
'B that was published in May 2010 revealed that only 1.9% of people wash
their hands with soap before eating; 1.8% before feeding a child; 24% after
cleaning a child’s anus and 24% after defecation. As a National Facilitating
Agency for the SHEWA-B project, Plan Bangladesh found that the
unavailability of water as per requirement (i.e. in terms of ease of access,
adequate flow and quantity etc.) is the major reason behind this gap
between knowledge and practice. This gap between knowledge and
practice can be easily removed by installing a very simple hand washing
device. With hygiene as one of its important components, the SHEWA-B
project tries to introduce hand washing devices by adding a tap in a bucket,
pitcher and even in a piece of bamboo to ensure easy access of water to
ensure hygiene practice. Plan Bangladesh also supports this initiative and
motivates stakeholders to innovate and promote options of hand washing
devices. In Plan's area, after 8 months of facilitation by the Field Agencies,
the report of participatory monitoring with 4,285 mothers of <5 years
children shows that 78% of mothers wash both hands with soap after
defecation; 49% after cleaning a child’s anus and 68% before feeding child,
while the baseline results were 51.7%, 43.3% and 33.8%, respectively.
Improvements were observed particularly in households with hand washing
device. Hence, significant change can be achieved by promoting hand
washing device at household level.
Poverty and Development: Realities of Grassroots 37