What is Hygiene?

• The things that you do to keep yourself and your

surroundings clean in order to maintain good health.
Good hygiene means living in an environment where
human and animal feces do not enter your body. One
gram of feces, approximately the size of a child’s little
toenail may contain 10 million viruses, one million
bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts and 100 worm eggs.
Germs are passed in several ways but all of these start
with feces.
What is Hygiene?
• In environments where people don’t practice good
hygiene, they are not protected from feces and they
are expose to germs which cause diarrhea and acute
respiratory diseases. Safe water combined with good
hygiene practices can reduce diarrhea infections by
more than half.
Categories of Hygiene
1. Personal hygiene
2. Household hygiene
3. School and Community hygiene
Personal Hygiene
• Personal Hygiene: involves keeping the body clean
(nails, finger, toes, teeth, ears, face, hair and body),
wearing footwear, wearing clean clothes, using a
latrine for urination and defecation and cleaning the
body well. Personal hygiene includes menstrual
hygiene and managing menstruation hygienically.
Hands are the principal carriers of disease-causing
germs. If widely practiced, hand washing with soap
could prevent diarrheal diseases, and respiratory
infections.
Key times of handwashing
• After toilet use
• Before and after preparation of foods and eating
• Before feeding a child
• Before handling drinking water
• When hands are dirty (after playing, throwing of
trash, working, farming, household activities, etc.)
Good hygiene
practices include:
• Handwashing with soap and clean water.
• Taking a bath daily.
• Keeping the hair clean and neat.
• Wearing clean clothes.
• Wearing shoes or slippers when going outdoors.
Good hygiene
practices include:
• Tooth brushing with fluoride toothpaste at least
twice a day.
• Trimming long fingernails.
• Covering mouth when sneezing or coughing.
• Not spitting in public areas.
• Learning to use the toilet properly for urination
and defecation.