Installing Hand Sanitizers in Classrooms do not Lower Rate of School Absences in Children

Installing hand sanitizers in classrooms do not lower the rate of student absences, a new study reveals.

The study, led by Patricia Priest at the University of Otago, conducted a randomized trial in 68 city primary schools in New Zealand to measure the number of children attending schools. Each student received a 30 minute in-class hygiene education session. They found that installing alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers in the classrooms do not lead to reduction in the rate of student absences.

In this study, the researchers assigned 68 schools to intervention or control group. They then measured the rate of school absences in children aged between 5-11 years. The schools that were assigned to the intervention group, the alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers were installed in the classrooms for two winter terms and the children were advised to use the hand sanitizer every time they coughed or sneezed and on the way out of the classroom for morning break or lunch.

The caregivers of all the 2443 children were surveyed over telephone about the reason for the student absences. They found that the rate of absences from school due to illness was similar in the intervention and control group.

Also, the availability of hand sanitizer to the children did not lower the rate of absences due to certain illnesses such as respiratory or gastrointestinal illness. Apart from this, it did not reduce the length of the illness or the absence from school or the number of episodes in which one or more family members are sick.

The researchers checked the school attendance records of the children in the participating schools and noticed that the number of absences for any reason and the duration of absence did not change between the two groups.

The finding highlights that hand sanitizers in classrooms in not effective enough to lower the spread of infectious disease among children in high income countries. 

The authors say: "The provision of hand sanitizers in addition to usual hand hygiene in primary schools in New Zealand did not prevent disease of severity sufficient to cause school absence."

The finding was documented in PLOS Medicine.