Impact of family health exercise program on health knowledge and practice of a rural population of eastern Nepal.

BACKGROUND It is important to know the impact of health education on community. This may lead to improve the programs, commitment to students and staffs by taking feedback. These activities are aimed at producing changes in the community. OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of health education as intervention program during Family Health Exercise (FHE) about the knowledge and practice of people related to health in a village of eastern Nepal. METHODS During FHE, health education was given by the 3rd year medical students to the head of the 30 families. The neighbour 30 families were taken as control, where no health education was given. These two groups were compared after 6 months. RESULTS Sanitary practice (Hand washing) before meal was known to both groups. But the material used for washing hand (soap and ash) was 53% in intervention as compared to 30% in control group. People were aware about the importance of care of the mother during pregnancy and lactation, but more in intervention group. The knowledge and practice for starting semisolid food other than breast milk for infants during weaning were higher in intervention (89%) than control (31%) group. CONCLUSION There was significant change in the knowledge and practice of woman (mainly host) who received health education. The community also benefited in terms of their health knowledge and practices. Such programs are useful for the community at large.