Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Jun 24;11:495. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-495.
Face washing is important to interrupt the transmission of trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. We aimed to assess the household and personal factors that affected water use and face washing practices in Kongwa, Tanzania.
We conducted a household water use survey in 173 households (329 children) in January, 2010. Self reported data on water use practices, observed water in the household, and observed clean faces in children were collected. Contingency table analyses and logistic regression analyses were used to measure associations between unclean faces and risk factors.
We found that women are recognized as primary decision makers on water use in a household, and respondents who reported laziness as a reason that others do not wash children's faces were significantly more likely to have children with clean faces. Washing was reported as a priority for water use in most households. Sixty four percent (95% Confidence Interval = 59%-70%) of children had clean faces.
Attitudes toward face washing and household water use appear to have changed dramatically from 20 years ago when clean faces were rare and men made decisions on water use in households. The sources of these attitudinal changes are not clear, but are positive changes that will assist the trachoma control program in strengthening its hygiene efforts.
洗脸对于阻断沙眼的传播至关重要，沙眼是全球致盲的首要传染性病因。我们旨在评估家庭和个人因素对坦桑尼亚孔戈瓦地区用水和洗脸习惯的影响。
我们于 2010 年 1 月在 173 户家庭（329 名儿童）中进行了家庭用水使用情况调查。收集了关于用水习惯、家庭中实际用水情况以及儿童面部清洁情况的自我报告数据。使用列联表分析和逻辑回归分析来衡量不清洁面部与危险因素之间的关联。
我们发现，女性被认为是家庭用水的主要决策者，而那些将懒惰作为他人不洗脸的原因的受访者，其儿童更有可能拥有清洁的面部。在大多数家庭中，洗脸被认为是用水的首要任务。64%（95%置信区间=59%-70%）的儿童面部清洁。
与 20 年前相比，人们对面部清洁和家庭用水的态度发生了巨大变化，当时清洁的面部很少见，而且家庭用水的决策权掌握在男性手中。这些态度变化的原因尚不清楚，但这些变化是积极的，将有助于沙眼控制项目加强其卫生工作。
