Affiliation:
1. Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Adigrat University, Ethiopia
2. JSI/Research and Training Institute, Inc., Tigray, Ethiopia
3. School of Public Health, Mekelle University, Ethiopia
4. School of Public Health, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia
5. Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Mekelle University, Ethiopia
Abstract
Introduction. Neonatal mortality contributes a higher percentage of infant mortality, especially in developing countries including Ethiopia where the rate of institutional delivery is low. In Ethiopia, scientific evidences on the level of community-based essential newborn care practice were scanty and inconclusive. Objectives. The aim of the study was to assess community-based essential newborn care practices and associated factors among women who have infant<12 months. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional study was employed among 634 randomly selected women who have infant<12 months from June 23, 2017, to August 29, 2017, at Enderta district. Data was collected by a face-to-face interview through structured questionnaires, and it was coded, entered, and cleaned using EpiData version 3.1. Then, the data was exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Odds ratios and p value were computed to know the association between the independent variables with the dependent variable. Finally, a variable at p values of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant with the outcome variable. Result. The overall community-based essential newborn care practice was found 40.7%. Educational status (AOR=6.6, 95% CI, 2.49-11.97), previous ANC follow-up (AOR=1.7, 95% CI, 1.2-3.80), weight of the child during birth (AOR=1.3, 95% CI, 1.12-2.98), and place of delivery (AOR=2.1, 95% CI, 1.50-4.63) were found to be significantly associated with community-based essential newborn care. Even though overall newborn practice was found to be good, the cord care practices were found to be poor that indicated there is a need to rise community awareness.