Home Economic Literacy

Health and Hygiene

In classes on health and hygiene, students learn how to prepare and

preserve foods to prevent diseases. This area of Home Economics
education also used to have a big focus on properly caring for sick
people as it was essential that young women had an understanding of
how to care for the sick people in their community.

In addition to caring for the home, students who studied Home

Economics learned how to properly care for sick family members. This
included sanitation, keeping the sick family member fed and
quaran-tined, and at-home treatments for common illnesses.
Today, some family and consumer science pro-grams offer this
information to students.

PERSONAL HYGIENE AND GROOMING

Hygiene is the study or science of cleanliness. It’s divided into two i.e.
personal (hygiene of the body) and environmental hygiene.

PERSONAL HYGIENE

This means looking after ones health, appearance, body, hair, teeth,
hands, feet, eyes, nose, clothing and shoes.

Personal health is attained through the following

1. Through personal cleanliness and good habits

2. Having regular exercises which will help to torn up the muscle s
and remove excess fat from the body and to improve posture, and get
rid of body waste through perspiration

3. Having regular baths to prevent body odour and skin problems

4. Eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to get vitamin C

essential for healthy skin, teeth and provide roughage for easy
digestion of food

5. A void greasy/ oily and starchy foods which are not good for skin

6. Having enough rest and sleep to rest the whole body

7. Having well balanced meals