Women's perception of hygiene and sanitation in rural andhra pradesh India

In rural southern India, despite high rates of antenatal visits and of delivery within healthcare institutions, the infant mortality rate (IMR) remains high at 42 deaths per 1,000 live births. In order to further understand the social, ecological, financial, and environmental factors contributing to adverse health outcomes, convenience sampling was utilized by SHARE INDIA staff to facilitate focus group discussions (FGDs) with six to ten mothers (ages 18-35) in six villages of Medchal Mandal. The FGDs explored mothers' home health and sanitation practices such as bathing, toileting, waste disposal, hand-washing, breast-feeding, menstrual health, cosleeping, and laundering. It was hypothesized that the high IMR can be attributed to lack of clean water access and other sanitation resources such as proper latrines, showers, sinks, and waste disposal areas, along with antiseptic cleansers to complement these behaviors. In addition, it was hypothesized that the high IMR can be explained by a lack of awareness among the priority population concerning the benefits, consequences, and proper completion of hygienic behaviors. Emerging FGD themes including a lack of accessibility of health promotion resources and awareness of necessary sanitary behaviors supported hypotheses. When possible, women took extra precautions to protect the health of children, but health-related decision-making and mothers' understanding of appropriate situations to perform home health behaviors identified environmental and cultural barriers prohibiting routine performance of evidence-based health behaviors. Future research and intervention activities will target promotion and education regarding health promotion practices in the home to address appropriate completion of routine hygienic behaviors.