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Background- Clean water is a key factor in keeping people healthy. Water can be contaminated at the source, in the home, or during the journey in between. A water source that is not protected, a dirty container, or unwashed hands can easily turn the water, even water that looks and tastes clean, into something that makes people ill. However, the water at the source is only the first stage of the water chain. Even clean water collected from a source can be contaminated prior to use at critical points due to unsafe hygiene practices. For these reasons, many of those who have access to improved water supplies through piped connections, protected wells or other improved sources are, in fact, exposed to contamination. Therefore, potentially billions of people can benefit from effective household water handling and safe storage. The rationale for the need to conduct this study was to address factors associated with proper handling of drinking water from source to mouth especially at household level which helps planners and policy makers to target with feasible intervention for proper handling of drinking water in Ethiopia. Objective: To assess safe water handling practice status and associated factors in the rural communities of Fagitalekoma of Awl Zone, South West Amhara. Method -Community based cross sectional study was conducted from November, 25 to December 28,2015 at Fagitalekoma district of Awi Zone which found South West of Amhara region. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select the representative households. The sample size was calculated using manual calculation and by taking the assumption that 95% Cl, 5% margin of error and P=0.32. So, the sample sizes of 446 households were fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria participated in the study by considering 10% non-response rate. The data were collected using structured interviewer administered questionnaires adapted from different studies. To standardize the questionnaire pre-testing was made for 22(5%) respondents. Eight health workers were trained for data collection by the principal investigator. Collected data were audited and cleaned periodically by the investigator. After manual cleaning, data were entered to EPl-INFO version 6 for repeated cleaning and exported to SPSS version 16 statistical packages. Exported vii variables were defined, |
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