Understanding home-based neonatal care practice in rural southern Tanzania

Mrisho, Mwifadhi; Schellenberg, Joanna Armstrong; Mushi, Adiel K; Obrist, Brigit; Mshinda, Hassan; Tanner, Marcel; Schellenberg, David

doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.04.029

Cited by 73 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 49 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Very similar results were also found in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Tanzania (8,9). Interventions to improve newborn care must prioritize postnatal care, and take into account the local socio-cultural situation and barriers to accessing including the financial burden [10].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Care of the newborn: Community perceptions and health seeking behavior

Warren¹

2010

Ethiopian Journal of Health Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Every year, 120,000 newborns die in Ethiopia. In 2005 a national Safe Motherhood Community-Based Survey was carried out on behalf of the Family Health Department to explore community practices surrounding newborn health and care seeking behavior. Objective: To explore and understand health seeking behavior, and identify the positive practices surrounding care of the newborn. Methods: In-depth interviews and focus group discussions regarding newborn care practices were conducted with mothers, older women, men with young children, health providers, religious leaders and elders across Ethiopia's 11 regions. Important findings: Tradition recommends mothers and their newborns to stay at home for 40 days. The principle behind the practice, facilitates the period of rest and repair, establishes breastfeeding and is justified on the grounds that the mother and newborn are vulnerable to malevolent spirits. Perceptions of the causes of newborn mortality and morbidity are consistent with those relating to biomedical causes. Many complained of lack of accessible health care that in event of emergencies. Therefore they have to rely on traditional medicine as it is easily accessed, readily acceptable. Conclusions: When families seek care for their newborns, remedies from traditional healers are often preferred to skilled health workers because of cultural and religious beliefs, poor access to health facilities, (including distance and terrain) and financial barriers. IntroductionNeonatal morbidity and mortality rates in Ethiopia are among the highest in the world and stem from a range of socio-economic, political and demographic factors. Many of these deaths are preventable. Around 120,000 newborns die every year and the neonatal mortality rate is 37 per 1000 live births [1]. Many women do not generally seek formal healthcare during pregnancy childbirth and puerperium. This has a major impact on care seeking for, and survival of, the newborn. Less than a third of women receive antenatal care and 90% are assisted by unskilled attendants; TBAs (26%), relatives (58%), or alone (6%). Almost no one (3.5%) receives any postnatal care (2).

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Care of the newborn: Community perceptions and health seeking behavior

Warren¹

2010

Ethiopian Journal of Health Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similar results have been found in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Tanzania. [38][39][40] Recently, Owais et al 41 reported on care-seeking characteristics of families who have infants with possible serious bacterial infection in Pakistan. Factors associated with seeking care from skilled HCP included recognition by the mother of severity of illness, families able to speak the dominant language spoken in the hospital and the presence of fever or grunting in the child.…”

Section: Local Understandings Influence Treatment Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infant illness spanning the antenatal to early neonatal continuum in rural northern Ghana: local perceptions, beliefs and practices

Engmann¹,

Adongo

Aborigo

et al. 2013

J Perinatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

OBJECTIVE:To explore community understanding of perinatal illness in northern Ghana. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional descriptive study design. RESULT: 253 community members participated in in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, including women with newborn infants, grandmothers and health care providers. Four overarching themes emerged: (1) Local understanding of illness affects treatment practices. Respondents recognized danger signs of illness spanning antenatal to early neonatal periods. Understanding of causation often had a distinctly local flavor, and thus treatment sometimes differed from mainstream recommendations; (2) Mothers are frequently blamed for their infant's illness; (3) Healthcare decisions regarding infant care are often influenced by community members aside from the infant's mother and (4) Confidence in healthcare providers is issue-specific, and many households use a blended approach to meet their health needs. CONCLUSION: Despite widespread recognition of danger signs and reported intentions to treat ill infants through the formal health care system, traditional approaches to perinatal illness remain common. Interventions need to be aligned with community perceptions if they are to succeed.

show abstract

“…Such forms of 'protection' include applying drugs, cow dung, and powder to help heal the cord. Bathing also plays a role here, and babies are bathed early, sometimes with cold water [32]. Studies in South Asia have reported similar findings, including unhygienic cord cutting and care, as well as early bathing [23,[33][34][35][36].…”

Section: Acceptability Of Evidence-based Newborn Care Practices At Comentioning

confidence: 77%

Improving implementation of Newborn Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa - Evaluating The Implementation Context in Uganda

Waiswa¹

2012

Neonatal Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding home-based neonatal care practice in rural southern Tanzania

Cited by 73 publications

References 49 publications

Care of the newborn: Community perceptions and health seeking behavior

Care of the newborn: Community perceptions and health seeking behavior

Infant illness spanning the antenatal to early neonatal continuum in rural northern Ghana: local perceptions, beliefs and practices

Improving implementation of Newborn Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa - Evaluating The Implementation Context in Uganda

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About