Community Health, Hygiene and Sanitation
Community Health, Hygiene and Sanitation tests how communities prevent disease and maintain safe living conditions. Expect determinants of health, disease transmission, water safety, waste disposal, food hygiene, immunization and maternal-child health.
Core rules and concepts
- Health is more than the absence of disease; it includes physical, mental and social well-being. Determinants include environment, income, education, housing, nutrition and access to services.
- Prevention levels: primary prevents disease before it occurs, secondary detects and treats early, and tertiary reduces complications and disability.
- The communicable disease chain includes pathogen, reservoir, exit, transmission, entry and susceptible host. Breaking any link can interrupt transmission.
- Safe water requires protection of the source, treatment and safe storage. Sanitation concerns safe excreta and waste management; hygiene concerns personal and food-handling practices.
- Food hygiene follows clean, separate, cook and chill principles. Immunization protects both individuals and communities through reduced transmission.
Worked example
Diarrhoea spreads in a village where hands are not washed after toilet use and drinking water is stored uncovered. The pathogen leaves through feces, reaches water or food by contaminated hands, and enters a new host through the mouth. Control measures include handwashing with soap, safe water storage, sanitation and food hygiene. The reasoning targets several links in the chain rather than blaming one cause.
Traps that cost marks
Do not use sanitation and hygiene interchangeably. Disinfection reduces pathogens on objects; sterilization kills all microorganisms. Oral rehydration solution prevents dehydration but does not stop diarrhoea itself. Boiling makes water safer only if it is stored safely afterward.