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CHP survey shows personal hygiene not fully practised by public (with photo)
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     A hygiene survey conducted by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) has revealed that hygiene practices in the community should be higher up on the agenda.

     Releasing the findings of the Personal and Environmental Hygiene Survey 2014 today (July 10), the Assistant Director of Health (Health Promotion), Dr Anne Fung, said that the public in general had good knowledge about hygiene but there was room for improvement in carrying out good personal hygiene practices in protecting their health.

     The Survey was conducted in January and February this year and 2 001 persons, aged 12 or above, were interviewed.

     The survey gauged the public's knowledge, attitude and practices of personal and environmental hygiene.

     The findings indicated that the public were concerned about the consequences of mosquito or insect bites. The majority of respondents (85 per cent) disagreed that the consequences of mosquito or insect bites were not serious.

     To prevent mosquito or insect bites, 67 per cent of the respondents wore light-coloured long-sleeved tops and trousers during outdoor activities in Hong Kong. The practise rate of females (69 per cent) was generally higher than that of their counterparts (64 per cent).

     However, less than half of the respondents applied mosquito repellent on exposed parts of the body in Hong Kong or when travelling to tropical or subtropical areas.

     For those with pets, only about half of them (55 per cent) would disinfect their pets regularly.

     The Survey also showed that the public possessed a good understanding of hand hygiene. Over 80 per cent of the respondents correctly identified the situations in which they need to wash their hands and over 90 per cent of them agreed that observing hand hygiene could prevent communicable diseases.

     However, 6 per cent of them did not always wash their hands after using the toilet and 30 per cent did not always do so after handling rubbish.

     Moreover, only a small percentage of respondents always washed their hands on some occasions, including after coughing or sneezing (38 per cent), after touching public installations or equipment (27 per cent) and before touching the eyes, the nose or the mouth (24 per cent). These practices were less common among males or single respondents.

     Dr Fung pointed out that only a small percentage of the respondents washed their hands properly.

     "Less than 8 per cent of the respondents always washed their hands with liquid soap and rubbed their hands for not less than 20 seconds as recommended by the DH," she said.

     The Survey also indicated that many respondents had good knowledge on the prevention of droplet spread or airborne diseases, such as correctly identifying the situations in which we need to wear masks (over 85 per cent), the preventive measures against droplet or airborne diseases (over 80 per cent) and avian influenza (over 90 per cent).

     However, only 57 per cent of the respondents always covered their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. Among those who responded, males were less likely to follow the practice (50 per cent) than females (63 per cent).

     "Only about one-third (36 per cent) of the respondents always wore masks when going out when they had respiratory tract infection symptoms or fever in the past three months," Dr Fung added.

     When compared with a similar survey in 2005, the practising rates of some hygiene measures among the public had increased. The proportion of people always washing their hands after coughing or sneezing increased from 31 per cent in 2005 to 38 per cent in 2014, while those who always washed hands after touching public installations or equipment almost doubled from 14 per cent to 27 per cent.

     However, people always washing their hands after handling rubbish dropped from 75 per cent in 2005 to 70 per cent in 2014.

     Similarly, people always covering their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing had fallen from 64 per cent to 57 per cent.

     Dr Fung stressed that in order to minimise the risk of contracting communicable diseases, members of the public should nurture a habit of good hygiene practices.

     Also attending the press conference today, the Head of the Infection Control Branch of the CHP, Dr Andrew Wong, emphasised that maintaining good hand hygiene is one of the most effective, simple and cost-effective methods to prevent infection.

     Dr Wong remarked that both washing hands with soap and water and cleansing hands with alcohol-based handrub can keep hands clean.

     "According to the latest guidelines on hand hygiene by the World Health Organization, hands should be washed with soap and water when visibly dirty or after using the toilet, and alcohol-based handrub can be used for cleansing hands without visible dirt," he advised.

Ends/Thursday, July 10, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:11

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