Public's spending-habit on hygiene

In 2020, to ward off the Covid-19 pandemic, members of the public spent more on personal hygiene than before. And with increased awareness about cleanliness, use of soap and disinfectants also saw a marked increase at that time. Obviously, well-off people could take better care of their personal hygiene as they had the means to do so. And as the low-income people lost their work in greater numbers than the privileged ones, they were definitely hard pressed to keep themselves clean. But how did they really fare in this respect during the pandemic?
Thankfully, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has come up with a report on the pattern of expenditures of the country's households on all the components of what the international aid agencies call WASH, an acronym for the phrase: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. As the BBS findings go, each household on an average spent Tk. 11,574, which amounts to 4.3 per cent of the public's annual household income on WASH.
Notably, the term, WASH, was first introduced by USAID. WASH is the focus of the two key targets of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6). The SDG6's aim is to ensure universal, affordable and sustainable access to WASH. And Bangladesh is committed to achieve SDG6 by 2030. Needless to say, BBS's study in question is part of meeting these UN agenda.
The said study report further informed that the low-income households from both urban and rural backgrounds spent a large portion of their incomes on WASH. Though what percentage of their earnings the better-off people used to keep themselves clean is not clear from the study report as carried by the media, the impoverished people's spending habit in this regard is indeed revealing.
Many, including even experts, were intrigued by the fact that during the pandemic time few slum people of Dhaka were infected by corona virus. Theories and explanations about why it was so did fly around during the pandemic. Some suggested that it had to do with their exposure to sunlight for a longer period of time than those belonging to the affluent section of society. Maybe such explanations had an element of truth, because sunray contains vitamin D, which improves human body's immune response. But if it (Vitamin D) can really protect one against Covid-19 is not substantiated by any research. But that the poorer section of the population has the habit of maintaining personal hygiene in their own way did not occur to many. And as the poor cannot afford the luxury of a sedentary lifestyle, immunologically they are much stronger than the wealthy urban idlers.
The BBS's study titled 'National WASH Account 2020', is undoubtedly a worthwhile effort that provides some insights into how concerned are the people about their personal hygiene and how much they are willing to spend for the purpose. The BBS report shows that the nation spent more than Tk. 597.53 billion, which is 2.18 per cent of its (country's) GDP, to keep clean. But the question is what portion of the expenditure is out-of-pocket and what part of it is shared by the government. Moreover, the findings of 2020, which was a very troubled time, may not be representative of general public's actual spending habit on maintaining personal hygiene. It is reassuring to learn at this point that the government has a plan to update the study results on the WASH sector on a yearly basis. It is believed that at the same time, the government would also make significant contribution to reduce low-income people's out-of-pocket expenditure while accessing WASH services.

[email protected]