|
Newborn care in Urban slums: A missed opportunity
Agrawal Deepika1, Roy Pinki Kumari2, Tyagi Neha3, Chaturvedi Manish4
1 Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
2 Medical Officer, NHPC, Faridabad, Haryana, India
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
4 Professor, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
Agrawal Deepika
Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/2347-6486.240195
|
|
Introduction: Neonatal mortality and morbidity are the greatest challenges in the current health care scenario. Majority of neonates die because mothers fail to identify danger signs of illness, and inappropriate or delayed care seeking. Objective was to find out the awareness among mothers regarding newborn care, essential newborn care practices and health care seeking behaviour in Urban slums.
Methodology: A cross sectional study was done among the study population of Urban slums, Bhangel, Noida which is the field practice area of Urban Health Training Centre, Department of Community Medicine, SMS&R, Greater Noida. Duration of the study was from 1st March to 31st August 2014. All mothers with infants less than 3months of age approaching the Urban Health Training Centre, Bhangel were taken as study subjects. Prevalidated semi structured questionnaire was used for interviewing mothers. Informed consent was taken from them about the participation in this study. Data was analysed using SPSS 17.0 version.
Result and conclusion: Most of the mothers lacked awareness regarding newborn danger signs and essential newborn care practices. The common reasons behind harmful practices were lack of awareness, traditional and cultural taboos and lack of free time for those mothers who were working.
|
