Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis

This report proposes a simple framework for policy actions to effectively promote handwashing in Nepal amid the COVID 19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Raising awareness about proper handwashing is the cheapest, easiest and most important way to prevent t...

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Main Author:	World Bank
Format:	Policy Note
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:	HYGIENE HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE HANDWASHING MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/352541593023146253/Beyond-Raising-Awareness-Promoting-Handwashing-in-Nepal-Amid-COVID-19-Crisis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33979

id	okr-10986-33979
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-339792021-09-21T12:54:29Z Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis World Bank HYGIENE HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE HANDWASHING MEDIA CAMPAIGN This report proposes a simple framework for policy actions to effectively promote handwashing in Nepal amid the COVID 19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Raising awareness about proper handwashing is the cheapest, easiest and most important way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but it is far from sufficient in Nepal. Nepali population can be categorized into three groups based on handwashing practices. Close to half of the population in Nepal already have a fixed location for handwashing as well as soap and water. Raising awareness through media outlets will be most effective for this group. More than 30 percent have a handwashing location but without soap or water. SMS alerts coupled with media campaigns may be necessary as 20 percent of this group do not use radio, TV, newspaper or Internet but more than 95 percent of them own a mobile phone. Providing or subsidizing soaps may also be necessary. The remaining 20 percent do not have a dedicated place for handwashing, water, or soap. This group, who tend to be poorer and harder to reach by media outlets, needs the greatest policy intervention as they face more difficulties to practice handwashing but can still become the nexus of the viral infection as half of them live in urban areas. Besides the immediate benefits of preventing coronavirus infections, promoting regular handwashing can have many benefits including reduction in acute respiratoryinfections, diarrhea, substantial reduction in neonatal infections, and overall improved socio-economic outcomes in the long run. Policy interventions should consider these benefits of improving handwashing practices in this disadvantaged group. 2020-06-25T13:49:25Z 2020-06-25T13:49:25Z 2020-06 Policy Note http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/352541593023146253/Beyond-Raising-Awareness-Promoting-Handwashing-in-Nepal-Amid-COVID-19-Crisis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33979 English COVID-19 Response Notes; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Policy Note South Asia Nepal
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	HYGIENE HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE HANDWASHING MEDIA CAMPAIGN
spellingShingle	HYGIENE HEALTH PUBLIC HEALTH CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE HANDWASHING MEDIA CAMPAIGN World Bank Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis
geographic_facet	South Asia Nepal
relation	COVID-19 Response Notes;
description	This report proposes a simple framework for policy actions to effectively promote handwashing in Nepal amid the COVID 19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Raising awareness about proper handwashing is the cheapest, easiest and most important way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but it is far from sufficient in Nepal. Nepali population can be categorized into three groups based on handwashing practices. Close to half of the population in Nepal already have a fixed location for handwashing as well as soap and water. Raising awareness through media outlets will be most effective for this group. More than 30 percent have a handwashing location but without soap or water. SMS alerts coupled with media campaigns may be necessary as 20 percent of this group do not use radio, TV, newspaper or Internet but more than 95 percent of them own a mobile phone. Providing or subsidizing soaps may also be necessary. The remaining 20 percent do not have a dedicated place for handwashing, water, or soap. This group, who tend to be poorer and harder to reach by media outlets, needs the greatest policy intervention as they face more difficulties to practice handwashing but can still become the nexus of the viral infection as half of them live in urban areas. Besides the immediate benefits of preventing coronavirus infections, promoting regular handwashing can have many benefits including reduction in acute respiratoryinfections, diarrhea, substantial reduction in neonatal infections, and overall improved socio-economic outcomes in the long run. Policy interventions should consider these benefits of improving handwashing practices in this disadvantaged group.
format	Policy Note
author	World Bank
author_facet	World Bank
author_sort	World Bank
title	Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis
title_short	Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis
title_full	Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis
title_fullStr	Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis
title_full_unstemmed	Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis
title_sort	beyond raising awareness : promoting handwashing in nepal amid covid 19 crisis
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/352541593023146253/Beyond-Raising-Awareness-Promoting-Handwashing-in-Nepal-Amid-COVID-19-Crisis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33979
_version_	1764479925835792384

Beyond Raising Awareness : Promoting Handwashing in Nepal Amid COVID 19 Crisis

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