Recognizing the Danger Signs and Health Seeking Behaviour of Mothers in Childhood Illness in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal behaviour regarding child health care has been recognized as an important social and anthropological factor explaining high mortality rates among children under five years of age. Delays in seeking appropriate health care is known to be the largest risk behaviour which contribute large number of child deaths in developing countries especially in Pakistan. Mothers are mostly responsible for their child health, however, the importance of knowledge among mothers while in identifying the danger sign in their child are very imperative for preventing their illness. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in an urban setting in Karachi city. The objective of study was to assess the knowledge of mother's regarding danger signs in their child illness and their care seeking behavior with aims to improve the neonatal and child health in Pakistan. Results: The majority of respondent mothers (81.5%) were literate, housewives (90%). Regarding child care the mothers are responsible for the immediate needs of their child. In the context of breast feeding and immunization of the infants, majority of the mothers were aware of practicing early initiation and uses of colostrum because of its importance. Although a large proportion of mothers (90.1%) sought 'appropriate' care for childhood illness, generally care was sought from private doctors (69.4%) instead of government medical practitioners. Conclusion: Study concluded that the Health seeking behviour of mothers has been found appropriate, however, their knowledge regarding the danger signs and illness of their children was reported low. It is recommended that some urgent awareness intervention by the policy makers for reducing the child death should be given to increase their knowledge on the danger sign of child diseases in Pakistan.

Health Care Seeking Behavior Towards Neonatal Danger Signs and Associated Factors Among Mothers in Kamba Zuria District, South Ethiopia

“…However, it was higher than a study conducted in Edo state, Nigeria (35.9%) [19]and Tenta district, Amhara region (41.3%) [16]. In contrast, it was lower than a study conducted in Pakistan (81.1%) [20], Bahir Dar (72.7%) [21] and facility based study conducted in Ambo town, Central Ethiopia, (60.5%) [22]. These discrepancies might be due to social environment that does not encourage health care seeking behavior towards neonatal danger signs, difference in accessibility of health facilities and the time duration in this study was limited to twenty-four hours since the onset of neonatal danger sign.…”

Factors associated with mother's healthcare-seeking behavior for symptoms of acute respiratory infection in under-five children in sub-Saharan Africa: a multilevel robust Poisson regression modelling

“…However, IMCIS implemented in Low and Middle-income Countries (LMIC) specifically in SSA has not achieved its target [ 17 ]. Mothers or caregivers play a crucial role in recognizing the symptoms of acute respiratory infection in under-five children [ 18 , 19 ]. Previous studies conducted on mother's healthcare-seeking behavior for symptoms of acute respiratory infection in under-five children showed that maternal education [ 20 , 21 ], household wealth status [ 19 , 22 ], distance to a health facility [ 23 , 24 ], residence [ 20 , 25 ], childhood nutritional status [ 19 , 26 ], maternal occupation [ 22 , 27 ], husband education [ 28 ], perceived severity [ 20 , 21 , 29 ], previous history of under-five death [ 20 ], media exposure [ 14 ], ANC visit [ 30 ], and place of delivery [ 31 , 32 ] were found to be significant predictors.…”

Effect of Health Education Intervention Programme on Awareness of Danger Signs in Childhood Illnesses (Under-Five) Among Caregivers in Kaduna State, Nigeria

“…Reduction in the mortality rate of under-five children is improved from 1.8% by the year of1990-2000 to 3.9% from 2000-2015 worldwide (Awasthi, Verma & Agarwal, 2018). Global community permitted Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) at the termination of Millenium Development Goal to reduce avoidable deaths of under-five children (Anwar-ul-Haq, Kumar & Durrani, 2019).…”