Nudging Handwashing Among Primary School Students in the Philippines

Handwashing is key to preventing the transmission of various infectious diseases of which school-aged children are particularly susceptible. Traditional, information-messaging campaigns may increase handwashing awareness but have had limited success in promoting behavior change. Behavioral economics “nudges,” which explicitly target the knowledge-behavior gap, is a promising alternative. This paper evaluates the impact of school-based nudges in the first fully powered cluster randomized controlled trial in the Philippines.

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