Answer:
Hygiene and Environmental Health Module: 5. Institutional Hygiene and Sanitation
Study Session 5 Institutional Hygiene and Sanitation
Introduction
In this study session you will be introduced to the public health importance of various local institutions, such as schools, prisons, offices, clinics, Health Posts, churches and mosques. We will consider the essential hygiene requirements for these establishments and enable you to relate this to your own locality. In addition, this session introduces you to planning and making follow-up assessments of the hygiene status of these institutions.
Learning Outcomes for Study Session 5
When you have studied this session, you should be able to:
5.1 Define and use correctly each of the key words printed in bold. (SAQ 5.1)
5.2 Identify the local institutions that require attention for hygiene. (SAQ 5.2)
5.3 Describe the public health importance of public institutions. (SAQ 5.3)
5.4 Explain the basic hygiene requirements of institutions in your locality. (SAQ 5.4)
5.5 Describe the activities needed for planning the promotion of hygiene and sanitation in local institutions. (SAQ 5.5)
5.6 Identify the tools that are needed for institutional inspection. (SAQ 5.6)
5.1 Scope of institutional hygiene
Public institutions are those that provide social, educational and religious public services to the general population. They include schools, nursery homes, clinics, Health Posts, prisons, jails, churches and mosques. You may have some or all of these in your locality. These are the focus of institutional hygiene. However, there are other sectors of service such as shopping centres, mill houses, slaughterhouses and traditional markets that may also require your attention.
Children attending school, patients attending Health Posts and other people seeking services are vulnerable to various diseases, accidents and stresses. Protecting the health of all these people is essential from a public health point of view. The promotion of basic hygiene is very important in these local institutions.
5.2 Public health importance of institutional hygiene
The public health importance of local institutions is considered to be an extension of healthful housing. These institutions are places where people spend much of their time outside their home. The satisfaction of their physiological and psychological needs, and protection against infections and accidents, depend on the way hygiene is promoted in these local institutions. It is possible for these institutions to be the focal point for epidemic diseases such as diarrhoea and measles due to poor hygiene.
5.3 School hygiene and sanitation
When we say schools, we mean kindergartens, primary schools (first and second cycle), and high schools, all of which could be present in your locality
