ArticleThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene2015
Observed practices and perceived advantages of different hand cleansing agents in rural Bangladesh: ash, soil, and soap.
Article in The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hand cleaning with ash for reducing the spread of viral and bacterial infections: a rapid review.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- The effects of skill-based health education-A randomised-controlled intervention in primary schools in rural Bangladesh.PloS one · 2025Trial
- Promoting healthy practices among schools and children in rural bangladesh: a randomised controlled trial of skill-based health education.BMC public health · 2024Trial
- Food Safety, Hygiene, and Sanitation Practices Among University Campus Dining Personnel: An Institution-Based Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of nutrition and metabolism · 2026Article
- Quantifying the Viral Reduction Achieved Using Ash and Sand as Handwashing Agents.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2023Article
- Handwashing among caregivers of young children in a protracted and complex refugee and immigration context: a mixed methods study on the Thai-Myanmar border.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) practices and morbidity status in a rural community: findings from a cross-sectional study in Odisha, India.Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2021Article
- Pattern, predictors and clustering of handwashing practices in India.Journal of infection prevention · 2021Article
- Relationships Among Toilet Sharing, Water Source Locations, and Handwashing Places Without Observed Soap: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Richest Households in Bangladesh.Environmental health insights · 2021Article
- Hygiene in Restaurants and among Street Food Vendors in Bangladesh.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2019Article
- Serial Measurements of Soap Weights and Soap Availability to Describe Handwashing Behavior.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2018Article
- Nutritional Status and Basic Hygiene Practices of Rural School Age Children of Savar Region, Dhaka, Bangladesh.Central Asian journal of global health · 2018Article
- Behavioral antecedents for handwashing in a low-income urban setting in Bangladesh: an exploratory study.BMC public health · 2017Article
- Nonrandomized Trial of Feasibility and Acceptability of Strategies for Promotion of Soapy Water as a Handwashing Agent in Rural Bangladesh.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2017Article
- Healthcare worker and family caregiver hand hygiene in Bangladeshi healthcare facilities: results from the Bangladesh National Hygiene Baseline Survey.The Journal of hospital infection · 2016Article
- Hygiene Practices During Food Preparation in Rural Bangladesh: Opportunities to Improve the Impact of Handwashing Interventions.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2016Article
- Dry Taps? A Synthesis of Alternative "Wash" Methods in the Absence of Water and Sanitizers in the Prevention of Coronavirus in Low-Resource Settings.Journal of primary care & community healthReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Bangladeshi communities have historically used ash and soil as handwashing agents. A structured observation study and qualitative interviews on the use of ash/soil and soap as handwashing agents were conducted in rural Bangladesh to help develop a handwashing promotion intervention. The observations were conducted among 1,000 randomly selected households from 36 districts. Fieldworkers observed people using ash/soil to wash their hand(s) on 13% of occasions after defecation and on 10% after cleaning a child's anus. This compares with 19% of people who used soap after defecation and 27% after cleaning a child who defecated. Using ash/soil or soap was rarely (< 1%) observed at other times recommended for handwashing. The qualitative study enrolled 24 households from three observation villages, where high usage of ash/soil for handwashing was detected. Most informants reported that ash/soil was used only for handwashing after fecal contact, and that ash/soil could clean hands as effectively as soap.
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Registered trials
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.