Trend of COVID-19 spreads and status of household handwashing practice and its determinants in Bangladesh – situation analysis using national representative data
Md. Sabbir Ahmed, Fakir Md Yunus
Abstract
The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence and factors associated with household (HH) handwashing practice in Bangladesh and draw a trend of COVID-19 spreads and compare that with the countrywide HH handwashing practice. The study is based on the two national representative publicly available datasets (MICS 2019, and confirmed cases of COVID-19). Of 61,209 (weighted) HH, the overall prevalence of HH handwashing was found 56.3%, and the prevalence was significantly varied across the socio-economic status of the HH. Map comparison suggested that the gradual increasing trend of COVID-19 cases in areas where HH handwashing practice is low. The northern part of Bangladesh had the highest handwashing practice, whereas it had less effected by COVID-19 cases. However, central Bangladesh had the hardest hit by COVID-19 cases, and it had around 50% handwashing practice coverage. Large-scale observational study is necessary to establish the causality.