The Levels of Neonatal Care Practices at Health Facilities and Home Deliveries in Rural Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Globally, there has been progress in reducing maternal and under-5 child deaths in the past 2 decades; however, the progress in reducing newborn mortality has been slower with estimated 3 million neonatal deaths per year. In Ethiopia, unhealthy newborn care is common at home deliveries compared with institutional births that might be associated with neonatal deaths. The purpose of the current study was to assess the practices of immediate newborn care at home and institutional deliveries in rural Sidama Zone, 2017. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional survey was used. The study was conducted in 5 districts of Sidama Zone, from January 21 to February 4, 2017. A total of 2300 mothers who gave live births in the past 6 months were selected using a 2-stage cluster sampling methods. Data were entered, cleaned, and recoded using Epi Data and SPSS for analysis. Accordingly, descriptive and bivariate analyses were done, and the results are presented using P values. Results: The response rate was 99% (2279/2300). About one-third of the mothers are in the age group of 20 to 24 years, and 94.6% of them had at least 1 antenatal care follow-up. Most (72%) mothers delivered at health facilities. The practices of skin to skin care of the babies was 52% (61% at health facilities, 28% at home; P < .002). Baby bathing delay for at least 24 hours was 78% and clean cord care was 73% overall (home 21% vs health institution 93.6%). The cord was not tied in 11.6% of cases all of whom were home births (P < .001). As to immediate breastfeeding of the child, most (78%) of the babies were put to the breast within an hour of birth with no significant difference between the 2 places of births (P = .75). Conclusion: In this study, giving birth at health facilities did not make immediate newborn care practices universal, but unhealthy practices were more common among home births. Therefore, more efforts to promote community-based immediate newborn care are needed with great emphasis to proper thermal care.

Coverage and factors associated with mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis

“…Women who delivered in a health facility had 15 times higher odds of having SSC immediately after delivery with their newborns. This is consistent with the findings from previous studies which showed that the practice of SSC between the mother and the newborn was significantly more common in health facility based delivery compared with home births [32,33]. Skilled birth attendants at health facilities may be more knowledgeable about SSC than traditional birth attendants, making it more likely to be practiced in hospital deliveries [34,35].…”

Mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact in sub-Saharan Africa: prevalence and predictors

“…The present study shows that delivering in a health facility was associated with a six times greater likelihood of experiencing mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact. This is consistent with evidence from The Gambia,13 Ethiopia29 and Nigeria,24 that found higher odds of mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact among women who delivered at a health facility as compared with those who delivered at home. It is noteworthy that, delivery in a health facility significantly rests on the availability of skilled birth attendants (SBAs) who have been trained to ensure that mothers comply with best maternal and neonatal practices 30 31.…”

Neonatal care practiced by the mothers in Muslim-communities in Birgunj Metropolitan city, Parsa, Nepal

“…In this study, four fifth (80.36 %) of the women were provided first bath after 24 hours to the newborn. A study of Ethiopia also revealed 78.4% mother provided first bath after 24 hours of delivery [15]. Likewise other studies identified around half of the newborn were provided bath within 24 hours of the birth [6,16].…”