Abstract:
Background: Newborn care is an immense importance for the proper development and
healthy life of a baby. Globally, more than 2.7 million newborns die before reaching one
months of the age every year and most of the new born deaths occur at home. Promotion of
mothers’ knowledge and practice on essential newborn care is one strategy for improving
newborn health outcomes that can be delivered in the home as well as facilities.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess mothers’ knowledge and practice on essential
newborn care and associated factors in East Badewacho woreda, Hadiya zone.
Methods: Community based cross sectional study design was done from March 1 to April 30,
2018. The sampled population were 399 mothers who gave live births within the last six
months prior to actual data collection. Multistage sampling technique was employed. Data
was collected by using semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were entered, in
Epi-data version 3.1 and exported into SPSS version 21 for analysis. Bivariate logistic
regression was used to identify candidate variables at p-value of ≤ 0.25. Those variables ≤
0.25 in bivariate logistic regression were entered into multivariate logistic regression model
to detect statistically significant associations between outcome and explanatory variables at
p-value of <0.05. Odd ratio was used to measure the strength of association at 95%CI.
Result: A total of 387 mothers were included in this study with completion rates 97%. 37.5%
of the mothers had good knowledge on essential newborn care and 34.1% of the mothers had
good practice on ENC. Ever heard about ENC [AOR =4.375,CI(2.708,7.07], ANC follow up
[AOR =7.79,CI(1.053,20.782)] and PNC follow up [AOR=1.71,CI(1.053,2.782] were
significantly associated with knowledge of essential newborn care and educational status of
the husband[AOR=0.24,CI(0.089,0.64)] and [AOR=0.314,CI(0.126,0.78)],place of
delivery[AOR=0.024,CI(0.009,0.068)]and knowledge on essential newborn care
[AOR=2.03,CI(1.223,3.371) were significant predictors for practice of ENC.
Conclusion and recommendation: In this study, around one-third of the mother had good
knowledge and practice on essential newborn care. Routine counselling to mothers about
essential newborn care during the time of ANC, delivery and PNC follow up were important
for promotion of ENC knowledge and practice.
