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Determinants of hygienic self-care practices related to skin conditions among primary school children in Harare City

In this cross-sectional study, 592 (response rate = 98.5%) primary school children selected through multi-stage sampling in the western district, Harare City responded to self-administered questionnaires measuring their reported self-care practices related to skin conditions. The prevalence of skin conditions was 8%. Associations existed between occurrence of skin conditions and sharing bath towels (p = 0.001), sharing tooth brushes (p = 0.01), and inconsistent use of shoes (p < 0.001). No association was shown between sharing clothes (p = 0.15), sharing hair combs (p = 0.07) and skin conditions. The occurrence of skin conditions decreased with age. Skin conditions are common among children and a complex chain of associations characterizes skin conditions particularly poor hygiene, poverty and overcrowding. Health promotion programmes need to focus on children to address the problem of skin conditions.