Neonatal Jaundice: Knowledge, Attitude and practices of mothers in Mosan-Okunola community, Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Knowledge about NNJ was low in this community and ineffective preventive practices were utilised. Efforts should be made to increase it, and health workers should play a leading role.

Knowledge about Neonatal Jaundice among Nepalese Mothers

“…This finding was similar to other findings in Iran and Nigeria. 10,[16][17][18] In this study, around half (47%) mothers knew that neonatal jaundice was visible after two to three days of the delivery. Regarding the knowledge of danger signs, 84% of respondents answered that the newborn refusing to feed was a danger sign.…”

“…This finding supported previous studies. 10,[16][17][18] The knowledge of the causes of NNJ was low as 74% of the respondents did not know any cause and 15% had reported wrong causes, such as: blood incompatibility and prematurity. This finding was similar to other findings in Iran and Nigeria.…”

“…This finding was similar to other finding in Nigeria. 10 A large population of mothers (79%) had a low knowledge about the effect of jaundice. But this finding was opposite in a study conducted in Malaysia which found that 70% of mothers knew that jaundice could cause death and brain damage.…”

“…20 Regarding willingness to take baby to the hospital if their babies developed NNJ, majority (78%) of respondents were willing. A study conducted by Goodman 10 shows that majority (90.4%) of respondents had willingness to take the baby to hospital. Majority of respondents (74%) had knowledge about exposing the newborns to sunlight as a primary treatment practice for NNJ.…”

“…It concluded that knowledge about NNJ was low and utilization of preventive practices was ineffective. 10 Another study conducted in Nigeria showed that about 92.4% mothers were aware of neonatal jaundice, 67% admitted taking their jaundiced babies to hospital, 19.4% followed the traditional medication, and 13.2% mothers neither took their neonates to hospital nor followed any traditional medication. The study revealed that there is existence of the knowledge gap among the mothers of the babies with neonatal jaundice.…”