Hand Washing practices of retail Food Vendors in Adansi North District of Ashanti Region

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Date
June, 2019
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION Hand washing is the act of cleaning hands for the purpose of removing soil, dirt, and microorganisms. Food vendor’s hand washing practice is most important because they deal with a lot of people and washing their hands can be a least expensive measure to prevent the transmission of infections including nosocomial infections. OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to determine the hand washing practices among food vendors in Adansi North, Ghana. METHODS A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 396 retail food vendors and 2 officers from Environmental Health Officers. Data were collected using questionnaire, observational checklist and interview guide. The instrument solicit information on the socio demographic characteristics, knowledge on hand washing practices, factors influencing hand washing practices and licenses of hand washing. RESULTS The results indicated that retail food vendors have knowledge on hand washing practices, 96.70% have heard something about hand washing and majority (55.32%) of these acquired knowledge about hand washing through the media. Likewise, the attitude towards hand washing was positive as majority (94.42%) asserted hand washing is the responsibility of the individual food vendors. Almost all the participants (90.86%) have license to sell food and most were invited before they acquired license to sell food. There was a significant difference (p> 0.005) between variables such as vendor’s level of education, marital status and the number of years a person has used to sell food and hand washing
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A thesis submitted to the department of Health Promotion and Disability Studies, College of Health Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health.
Keywords
Hand Washing practices, Retail Food Vendors, Adansi North District, Ashanti Region
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