Maternal Health Literacy and Hand Hygiene Practices among Caregivers of Children Under Five: A Cross-Sectional Study in India

Background and Objectives: Children under five are dependent on caregiver’s hand washing and their health literacy for their health and well-being attention to which was reinforced during COVID-19. A caregiver’s hands can act as primordial prevention for children under five. The current study aimed to assess caregiver’s health literacy and WHO-five moments of hand hygiene in a uni-center of a developing country.Materials and Methods: To explore the practice and attitude of WHO-Five Moments of hand washing and caregiver’s health literacy using the Maternal Health Literacy (MaHeLi) survey a cross-sectional study was conducted at a single centre at a developing country among 418 caregivers of children under five. The analysis and reporting of variables utilized descriptive, univariate, paired t-test, and multivariate analysis methods.Results: Caregivers’ handwashing practices were significantly associated with education level and socioeconomic status (P-value ≤ 0.001). A positive correlation (P-value = 0.003) was observed between health literacy and handwashing practices, with caregivers demonstrating better hygiene practices after caregiving activities than before (P-value ≤ 0.001). Although most participants reported moderate levels of handwashing, only a small percentage practices optimum handwashing before or after child care. Caregivers with lower health literacy were less likely to perform adequate hand hygiene.Conclusions: Our study suggests that caregivers with higher health literacy demonstrated better hand hygiene practices. Enhancing health literacy and promoting handwashing education, especially in paediatric care settings and at community, could help improve hygiene practices among caregivers. These findings reflects the need for healthcare providers and policymakers to consider targeted interventions on developing health literacy and hand hygiene practices to reduce infections in children under five.