Health and Hygiene: Personal Hygiene, First Aid, Common Diseases and Community Health
Questions cover personal hygiene routines, first aid for common emergencies, communicable and non-communicable diseases, and community health measures.
Personal hygiene
Daily bath, brushing twice a day, nails cut short, hair washed, clean clothes, closed footwear, and hand washing with soap before eating and after using the toilet. Menstrual hygiene: clean absorbent material changed every 4-6 hours, proper washing and safe disposal.
First aid
Aim: preserve life, prevent worsening, promote recovery.
- Cut: clean with water, press to stop bleeding, cover.
- Burn: cool under running water 10-20 minutes and cover loosely; never apply oil, toothpaste or turmeric.
- Fracture: immobilise; do not massage or attempt to set it.
- Dog bite: wash with soap and running water for 15-20 minutes, apply antiseptic, then anti-rabies vaccine.
- Snake bite: keep the person calm and still, immobilise the limb, remove rings; do not cut, suck or apply a tight tourniquet.
- Fainting: lie flat with legs raised, loosen clothing, give fresh air.
Common diseases
Communicable: malaria (female Anopheles, night-biting, stagnant water), dengue (Aedes aegypti, day-biting, clean stored water), diarrhoea (ORS plus zinc), tuberculosis (droplet spread, DOTS), typhoid and hepatitis A (faeco-oral route), worm infestation. Non-communicable: anaemia, iodine-deficiency goitre, diabetes, obesity, hypertension.
Community health
Safe drinking water, sanitary latrines, covered drains, garbage segregation, mosquito control, immunisation under the national programme, ORS corners, and the work of ASHA and ANM.
Worked example
A child has passed three watery stools today. Prepare ORS: one packet in one litre of boiled, cooled water; if no packet, one level teaspoon salt plus six level teaspoons sugar in one litre. Give small sips after every stool and continue feeding. Reasoning: the danger is dehydration and salt loss, not the stool itself; ORS replaces water and electrolytes while feeding maintains nutrition.
Traps
No oil on burns and no tight tourniquet on a snake bite; the dengue mosquito bites by day; ORS prevents dehydration but does not stop diarrhoea; immunisation prevents disease, it does not cure it.