Indian households lack proper hand-wash facilities, shows data

The survey covered at least 600,000 households across India. Other than interviewing members of the households, the enumerators were tasked with seeing the place where members of the household most often wash their hands.

As the number of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases detected in India rises, experts have suggested frequent handwashing as an important precautionary measure. But getting people to follow this routine may not be very easy as a significant number of Indian households do not have adequate handwashing facilities, according to data from the National Family Health Survey (2015-16) .

Students wearing facemasks wash their hands before attending a class at a governement-run high school in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad, on March 4, 2020, as part of health measures taken against the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. - (AFP photo)

The survey covered at least 600,000 households across India. Other than interviewing members of the households, the enumerators were tasked with seeing the place where members of the household most often wash their hands.

The enumerators could find a designated place for washing hands in about 97% of households surveyed but not all of them with adequate cleaning facilities. Water was not available in 14% of these households at the place where hands were washed. In urban areas, the share of such households was only 6% compared to 18% in rural areas. To be sure, among the households that had water, about 19% had no cleaning agent such as soap, ash, mud or sand.

Richer households have better cleaning facilities. The difference is quite significant – among the wealthiest 20% households in the country, water was not available at the place of washing hands in only 1% households, while among the poorest 20% households, water was not available in 32%.