ASSESSMENT OF FOOD HYGIENE PRACTICES AMONG RURAL WOMEN IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

This study assessed food hygiene practices (FHP) among rural women in Kwara State, Nigeria, and specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, identified the sources of information on FHP among the respondents, assessed their knowledge of FHP, determined the their attitude to FHP, determined the level of utilization of the FHP and examined the challenges to the practice of hygiene among the respondents. A three-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 160 respondents across four Local Government Areas using a validated interview schedule to obtain data for this study. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Findings revealed that the average age of respondents was 45.8 years and their average household size was 5.6. Community health workers (91.3%), and public health officers (89.4%) were their major sources of food hygiene information. The respondents had knowledge of FHP mostly in use of clean utensils (100%) and daily bathing (99.4%). Their attitudes were generally positive in always covering the hair (x̄=3.86). Bathing the body daily (x̄=3.97) was the most utilized FHP while their utilization level was also high (87.5%). Major challenges included economic and financial barriers (x̄=2.26) and lack of safe disposal methods (x̄=2.26). The Chi-square test showed that education level was significantly related to the utilization of hygiene practices (p = 0.047), while PPMC analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between knowledge and utilization of food hygiene practices (r = 0.177). The study concluded that the rural women possessed adequate knowledge and positive attitudes towards FHP. Despite the importance of FHP , the women were faced with several challenges such as economic and financial barriers, lack of safe disposal methods, and lack of support from networks that offered guidance on proper hygiene..