Trial reportThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene2013
Impact of regular soap provision to primary schools on hand washing and E. coli hand contamination among pupils in Nyanza Province, Kenya: a cluster-randomized trial.
Trial report in The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Necessary conditions for sustainable water and sanitation service delivery in schools: A systematic review.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Hand-washing promotion for preventing diarrhoea.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Rinse-free hand wash for reducing absenteeism among preschool and school children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic review of hand-hygiene and environmental-disinfection interventions in settings with children.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools in Low-Income Countries: A Review of Evidence of Impact.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Hand Hygiene Intervention Strategies to Reduce Diarrhoea and Respiratory Infections among Schoolchildren in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2017Pooled it
- Hand washing promotion for preventing diarrhoea.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Methodology for measuring behavior change dictates the perceived effectiveness of school-based WASH interventions.Frontiers in public health · 2026Trial
- Hygiene heroes: a cluster-randomized trial of a hygiene curriculum in Tamil Nadu schools.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Effect of an equipment-behavior change intervention on handwashing behavior among primary school children in Kenya: the Povu Poa school pilot study.BMC public health · 2019Trial
- Design, Intervention Fidelity, and Behavioral Outcomes of a School-Based Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Cluster-Randomized Trial in Laos.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Trial
- Assessing the impact of a school-based latrine cleaning and handwashing program on pupil absence in Nyanza Province, Kenya: a cluster-randomized trial.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2014Trial
- Stakeholder priorities for sustaining operations and maintenance of school sanitation facilities in Kampala City, Uganda.Discover public health · 2026Article
- Baseline Assessment of Handwashing Behavior, Hand Hygiene Conditions, and Wellbeing in Primary Schools in Nigeria.International journal of public health · 2025Article
- Assessment of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Conditions in Public Elementary Schools in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- What are the barriers and facilitators to community handwashing with water and soap? A systematic review.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Determinants of handwashing behaviour among primary school teachers in a district of Ghana.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2023Article
- Interventions promoting uptake of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) technologies in low- and middle-income countries: An evidence and gap map of effectiveness studies.Campbell systematic reviews · 2021Article
- The potential of school-based WASH programming to support children as agents of change in rural Zambian households.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Kenyan school book knowledge for water, sanitation, hygiene and health education interventions: Disconnect, integration or opportunities?International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We assessed whether supplying soap to primary schools on a regular basis increased pupil hand washing and decreased Escherichia coli hand contamination. Multiple rounds of structured observations of hand washing events after latrine use were conducted in 60 Kenyan schools, and hand rinse samples were collected one time in a subset of schools. The proportion of pupils observed practicing hand washing with soap (HWWS) events was significantly higher in schools that received a soap provision intervention (32%) and schools that received soap and latrine cleaning materials (38%) compared with controls (3%). Girls and boys had similar hand washing rates. There were non-significant reductions in E. coli contamination among intervention school pupils compared with controls. Removing the barrier of soap procurement can significantly increase availability of soap and hand washing among pupils; however, we discuss limitations in the enabling policy and institutional environment that may have prevented reaching desired levels of HWWS.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.