Abstract:
Background: Neonates are more prone to show subtle signs of illness. Most infants are either born at home or are discharged from the health facility early, families should be able to recognize signs of newborn illnesses and bring the newborn infant to the ĂƩĞntiŽn of a health worker. Methods: Community based cross ƐĞctiŽnĂů study design was carried out in wolkite town from March to April, 2017. A total of 368 mothers who gave birth within 12 months prior to the study period were selected by using ƐyƐƚĞmĂtic random sampling technique. Pretested Structured qƵĞƐtiŽnnĂŝrĞ was used to collect data. Data was entered into Epi data version 3.1 and exported into ƐƚĂtiƐticĂů package for social science version 21 for analysis. Bivariate and mƵůtivĂrŝĂbůĞ ůŽŐŝƐtic regression model was used for ŝĚĞntiĨyŝnŐ ƐƚĂtiƐticĂůůy ƐŝŐnŝĮcĂnƚ ĂƐƐŽcŝĂtiŽnƐ between dependent and independent variables. Result: In this study, 31.32% of mothers have good knowledge about neonatal danger sign. From a total of mothers, 64.5% respondents’ ƉrĂcticĞ for their sick neonate was unsafe. Mothers secondary and above ĞĚƵcĂtiŽnĂů level (AOR=1.21, CI 0.049, 0.677), income (AOR=0.44, CI 0.201, 0.964), place of birth (AOR=1.867, CI 1.102, 3.164) and source of ŝnĨŽrmĂtiŽn (AOR=0.173, CI 0.034, 0.875) were factors for having good knowledge. Husbands’ ĞĚƵcĂtiŽnĂů level (AOR=0.183, CI 0.049, 0.677), husbands’ ŽccƵƉĂtiŽn (AOR=0.132, CI 0.032, 0.543), place of delivery (AOR=6.45, CI 2.617, 7.185) and PNC follow up (AOR=6.19, CI 1.070, 5.626) were factors that contribute for mothers to bring their sick neonate to health ŝnƐtiƚƵtiŽn͘ Conclusion and ƌĞcŽmmĞnĚĂƟŽn͗ There was poor knowledge of mothers towards neonatal danger signs and unsafe ƉrĂcticĞ͘ Town health ŽĸcĞ͕ NGOs and health workers should collaborate to create awareness about neonatal danger sign in the community.
