<p>Knowledge of Neonatal Danger Signs and Associated Factors Among Mothers of <6 Months Old Child in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia: A Community Based Cross-Sectional Study</p>

Abstract

Introduction: Neonatal mortality is one of the challenging issues in current global health. Globally, about 2.5 million children die in the first month of life, out of which Sub-Saharan Africa accounts >40% per annual. Currently, the neonatal mortality rate in Ethiopia is 30/1000 live births. In the study area, there was a limitation of data on mothers' knowledge towards neonatal danger signs. Therefore, this study aimed to assess mothers' knowledge of neonatal danger signs and associated factors. Patients and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional design study was conducted in Dire Dawa from March 01/2019 to April 30/2019. Data were collected from 699 randomly selected mothers through a face-to-face interview. Bivariate logistic regression with p-value <0.25 was entered into the multivariable logistic regression analysis. Finally, AOR with 95% confidence intervals at P-value <0.05 was considered a significant association with the outcome variable. Results: About 285 (40.8%) (95% CI: 37.3-44.3) of mothers had good knowledge of neonatal danger signs, and 97.1% (95% CI: 94.1, 99.3) of mothers sought medical care at a health facility. Mothers who were governmental employed (AOR = 2.14, 95% CI: 1.17-3.9), whose fathers' educational level is secondary or above (AOR=2.3, 95% CI: 1.18-4.49), four/more antenatal care visit (AOR=4.3, 95% CI: 1.5-12.3), whose baby developed danger signs (AOR=3.5, 95% CI: 2.13-5.73), and those mothers received education on neonatal danger sign (AOR=7, 95% CI: 4.2-11.5), had a significant association with knowledge of neonatal danger signs. Conclusion: Maternal knowledge toward neonatal danger signs was low and a high number of mothers sought medical care at a health facility. Mother's occupation, fathers' education, development of neonatal danger signs, frequency of antenatal care visit, and received health education on neonatal danger signs were factors associated with mothers' knowledge towards neonatal danger signs.

Knowledge of neonatal danger signs and associated factors among mothers attending pediatric immunization clinics in Gidan District Health Centers, North Wollo, Ethiopia

“…These variations might be attributed to differences in the study setting as well as socio-cultural factors. Lower results were reported from studies in Southwest Ethiopia (39%) [15], Dire Dawa Ethiopia (40.8%) [21], Northwest Ethiopia (36.5%) [18], Ethiopia (meta-analysis) (40.7%) [19], Sudan (18%) [31], Kenya (15.5%) [25], Pakistan (15%) [13], and Saudi Arabia (37%) [24]. The high literacy rate and ANC follow-up in this study, as well as greater access to health care services and television/radio, could explain these differences.…”

“…Good and poor knowledge of NDSs: The mother who could mention at least three WHO-listed new-born danger signs were categorized as having good knowledge of NDSs, while the mother who mentioned less than three WHO-listed new-born danger signs were categorized as having poor knowledge of NDSs [11,15,18,21,24,25].…”

“…The data were collected using a pretested, structured, and interviewer administered Amharic version questionnaire which was adapted and modified from previous studies and WHO guidelines [6,11,15,18,21,24,25,26,27]. The questionnaire comprises three sections (I) sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents (II) maternal reproductive health characteristics, and (III) neonatal danger signs related items.…”

“…Furthermore, various studies indicated that knowledge of neonatal danger signs had a significant association with the treatment-seeking behavior of the mothers [18,22]. However, in Ethiopia, besides the attempts made to scale-up the maternal and child health services, maternal knowledge of neonatal danger signs remains low [10,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,23]. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge of neonatal danger signs and associated factors among mothers attending pediatric immunization clinics in Gidan district health centers, North Wollo, Ethiopia.…”

“…Additionally, various factors that had a significant association with maternal knowledge of neonatal danger signs were also identified. Of these, age, occupation, maternal level of education, fathers' educational level, residence, availability of Radio or Television (TV), antenatal care (ANC) follow-up, spousal involvement during ANC, place of delivery, postnatal care (PNC) follow-up, higher decision-making ability, birth preparedness, information about neonatal danger signs, gravidity, previous experience of neonatal danger signs (NDSs), and counseling on newborn care are among them [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]. Early identification of neonatal danger signs is an important step toward improving newborn survival [15].…”