Diarrhea prevention through food safety education.

OBJECTIVE Food safety education (FSE) was imparted in order to reduce the prevalence of diarrhea in children and improving the knowledge, attitude and practices of mothers regarding safe feeding practices. METHODS The study was conducted on mothers (n=200) of underprivileged children (6-24 months) through Anganwadi workers (AWW). The food safety education package incorporated three messages: washing hands with soap and water, avoid feeding leftover food and keep surrounding clean. These were imparted using lectures, slogans, posters, charts, flash cards, role-play. Calendars and leaflets were also handed over to the mothers as education material. After food safety education intervention, the households were studied again as at the baseline, on various aspects. RESULT There was 52% reduction in the incidence of diarrhea. The environmental sanitation and personal hygiene scores of most of the households and mothers improved. Improvement in the practice of hand-washing and avoidance of feeding leftovers to children was seen. There was reduction in the microbial load in the hand rinse samples of both mothers and children. CONCLUSION AWW proved to be effective change agents and FSE was successful in bringing about a positive behavior modification in mothers.