Background: Population residing in rural communities are most vulnerable to face health related issues directly or indirectly associated with housing environment, water, sanitation and hygiene conditions.Objective: To assess the housing environment and sanitation hygiene conditions among household living in rural setting of Katihar, Bihar. Methodology: A Community based cross sectional study was conducted in rural field practice area of Katihar medical college. A total of 450 households were assessed for housing and sanitary condition through house to house survey with the help of pre-designed, pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire with check-list. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and analysed by using frequency and proportion. Results :Among 450 houses surveyed in the study 57.3% and 14.2% of the houses were having inadequate ventilation and lighting. Almost half (57.3%) of the houses had unsafe practices for water storage and handling. The practice of handwashing before cooking food and eating was found to be absent in majority of the households (66.6% and 52.9% respectively). A total of 84.6% of the households reported open field defecation. Conclusion: The study revealed the importance for innovating and providing more effective and comprehensive package of services related to housing, water and sanitation to rural population through full community participation along with social assistance
Housing, Household, Rural, Sanitation
