The effects of school-based hygiene intervention programme: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Pediatrics
• Infectious Disease Prevention

Background:

• Children's susceptibility to infections is heightened by group activities and suboptimal hygiene.
• Frequent infections impact school attendance, academic performance, and overall child health.
• High-quality synthesized evidence is crucial for effective school-based hygiene programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of school-based hygiene interventions.
• To assess the impact of hygiene interventions on children's knowledge, attitudes, practices, and health outcomes.
• To identify research gaps and inform future intervention strategies.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of randomized and non-randomized intervention studies from PubMed and Cochrane CENTRAL.
• Risk-of-bias assessment using the Cochrane risk-of-bias 2 tool.
• Random-effect meta-analysis and GRADE certainty-of-evidence rating.

Main Results:

• Hand-body hygiene interventions improved knowledge, attitudes, practices, handwashing, and reduced absenteeism.
• Genital hygiene interventions improved attitudes and practices.
• Oral hygiene interventions showed mixed results, with some worsening of oral hygiene scores but improved dental hygiene and reduced caries.

Conclusions:

• School-based hand-body and genital hygiene interventions show potential for improving hygiene knowledge, practices, and reducing infection-related absenteeism.
• The evidence for oral hygiene interventions is mixed.
• Future research should focus on robust study designs, detailed intervention documentation, and comprehensive outcome evaluation.