Can Social Motivators Improve Handwashing Behavior among Children? Evidence from a Cluster Randomized Trial of a School Hygiene Intervention in the Philippines.

This study reports the impact of the HiFive program, a 6-week handwashing campaign that targets social and emotional motivators to improve student handwashing in primary schools in the Philippines. We designed a clustered randomized trial to evaluate the impact of HiFive on student handwashing behavior, motivation, and access. Of the sample of 196 primary schools located in two districts, half were randomly assigned to receive the program in the 2017-2018 school year.

A silent public health crisis: untreated caries and dental infections among 6- and 12-year-old children in the Philippine National Oral Health Survey 2006.

The oral health status of 6- and 12-year-old Filipino children was assessed in a representative national sample of 2030 6-year-old and 2022 12-year-old children, using WHO Basic Methods for Oral Health Surveys (4th edition, 1997) and the PUFA (pulpal involvement [P/p], ulceration caused by dislocated tooth fragments [U/u], fistula [F/f], and abscess [A/a]) index. A subsample of 242 12-year-old children was included to assess backward comparability between the 1998 Oral Health Survey that used WHO Basic Methods (3rd edition, 1987). The results showed that 97% of 6-year-old children had caries (mean dmft 8.