Impact of a Comic Storybook on Promoting Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Practice at Home among Children in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

Background: Consistent practice of recommended water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) behaviors is central to reducing exposure to fecal contamination and improving health outcomes for children1. Increasing the frequency of these behaviors requires a combination of factors, including convenient access to functional WASH infrastructure and targeted behavior change messaging. There have been substantial global improvements in WASH access in the past two decades, but progress within Sub-Saharan Africa has lagged other regions. Within Sub-Saharan Africa, rural areas have lower rates of access to WASH infrastructure and worse health outcomes than their urban counterparts. Materials & methods: The baseline study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design to assess the existing level of knowledge and practices related to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. This design was appropriate because it allowed for the collection of data at a single point in time, providing a snapshot of the prevailing WASH-related conditions and challenges before the introduction of the strategy. A Quasi-Experimental Research Design was employed for the effect study. A quasi-experimental research design. Results: shows that Family Discussions on Hygiene in terms of having family discussions about WASH, at the pre-test phase of the study the result showed that 30 (15%) of the pupils’ in the control primary schools reported “Yes” to having family discussions on hygiene and 170 (85%) of them reported “No”. In the intervention primary schools, 67 (33.5%) of the pupils’ reported “Yes” to having family discussions on hygiene and 133 (66.5%) of them reported “No”. While in the post-test phase of the study, 34 (17%) of the pupils’ in the control primary schools reported “Yes” to having family discussions on hygiene and 166(83%) of them reported “No” and in the intervention primary schools, 94(47%) of the pupils’ reported “Yes” to having family discussions on hygiene and 106(53%) of them reported “No”. Conclusion: This study has shown that the comic storybook as a school-based intervention could promote basic water, sanitation and hygiene knowledge awareness and practices among school-age children in primary schools. The participatory, self-educative and interactive nature of this approach makes this possible. Other methods of learning that have similar characteristics have been proven to improve cognition, which has in turn leads to attitude and behavior formation in children