Physical and sociocultural factors influencing hand hygiene behaviour during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study among traders in Lusaka District, Zambia

The COVID-19 epidemiology highlights the challenges for containment, mitigation, and control in low-resource settings like Zambia and suggests that the most vulnerable groups, particularly those living in low-income environments and depending on casual livelihoods, demand attention. This study aimed to determine factors that affect hand hygiene behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic among traders at the New Soweto Market in Lusaka District. A cross-sectional analytical design was used to quantitatively investigate physical and sociocultural factors that affect hand hygiene behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic among traders at New Soweto Market in Lusaka District, Zambia. The study sample included a total of 125 registered traders at the New Soweto Market, which is the biggest market in the capital city of Zambia. Majority of the participants (98.1%) demonstrated knowledge on hand hygiene. Remarkably, hand hygiene compliance was significantly associated with acquisition of hand hygiene knowledge [X (6, N = 120) = 41.49, p = 0.000] and cultural customs [X (6, N = 120) = 62.09, p = 0.000]. Further, hand hygiene compliance was significantly associated with availability of hand hygiene services or facilities within the market, [X (6, N = 120) = 13.30, p = 0.038]. Despite this, majority of the participants (61.7%) reported that they did not benefit from any hand hygiene services or facilities from the Local Authority or Ministry of Health. For an effective infection prevention and control program regarding COVID-19 pandemic, relevant authorities should consider supporting traders with hand hygiene related services. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement There was no external funding to this research project, except investigators' own limited resources ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: University of Zambia Research Ethics Committee, Lusaka, Zambia I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Dataset for this study is available and ready to be summited upon request by the editorial team.