Hygiene and Sanitation Practice among Chepang Community in Rapti Municipality, Chitwan, Province 3

Introduction: Safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are the fundamentals for improved standard of living, health and environment, education, gender equality, greater convenience and dignity. The main aim of this study was to assess the status of Hygiene and Sanitation practice among Chepang community of Rapti municipality. Methods: Descriptive Cross-sectional household-based study was done in the Chepang community. The study was done with 422 households which were selected through convenient sampling and written consent was taken. The Knowledge and Practice of respondent towards Hygiene and Sanitation practice were assessed through semi-structured questionnaire and the data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 20. Univariate and bivariate analysis was done. Univariate analysis was done and presented through frequency and percentage. Whereas bivariate analysis was done by using chi-square test (p<0.05) was considered for association between dependent and independent variable. Results: Out of 422 respondents, 234 had adequate knowledge on hygiene and sanitation. Among 234, only about 93 respondent had adequate practice about hygiene and sanitation. Variables such as education level (p≤0.01), occupation (p≤0.035), age (p≤0.001), gender (p≤0.50) & knowledge (p≤0.002) showed significant association with practice on hygiene and sanitation. Conclusions: Based on study findings, due to different socio-demographic factors such as poverty, lack of roads and transportation, illiteracy, the practice of Hygiene and Sanitation was found to be inadequate.