Maternal knowledge of essential newborn care in rural Zambia

Abstract

Maternity waiting homes (MWHs) may offer an intervention to improve newborn outcomes in rural Zambia. This study compared maternal knowledge of newborn care for women referred from facilities with and without MWHs. Topics assessed included: (1) umbilical cord care; (2) thermal and skin care; (3) nutrition, and; (4) prevention of diarrhea, and; (5) newborn danger signs prompting care-seeking. A two-group comparison design with a convenience sample was employed using a face-to-face interviews at one district hospital. Descriptive, inferential, and multivariate analyses were employed to compare knowledge. Overall, mothers demonstrated newborn care knowledge in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for newborn health and there were no significant differences in maternal knowledge of newborn care practices among MWH and non-MWH users. Younger mothers more often did not know about umbilical cord care, newborn skin care, and newborn danger signs. MWH users went more often for antenatal care than non-MWH users. In both groups, we found as the number of ANC visits increases, odds of answering “Don’t know” decreases. This study is the first to assess maternal newborn care knowledge and MWH use in rural Zambia. Both MWH users and non-users in the rural district were knowledgeable about essential newborn care.

Acknowledgements

We express appreciation to the research assistants, Brenda Moyo and Mercy Theo in Lundazi, who provided invaluable assistance throughout data collection. We give thanks to all of the nurses, midwives, and community health workers in rural Zambia for their on-going commitment to improving maternal-child health.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval

The study protocol and tool received institutional review board (IRB) approval from the University of Michigan (HUM00127176) and Zambian Ethics Reviews Converge IRB (2017-May-067), and the National Health Research Authority in Zambia was informed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by: the University of Michigan International Institute, African Studies Center, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and the South African Initiatives Office, University of Michigan School of Nursing New Research Investigator Award, University of Michigan School of Nursing Global Outreach Scholarship, and the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. The parent study program was developed and is being implemented in collaboration with Merck for Mothers, Merck’s 10-year, $500 million initiative to help create a world where no woman dies giving life. Merck for Mothers is known as MSD for Mothers outside the United States and Canada (MRK 1846-06500.COL). The development of the parent study article was additionally supported in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1130334) https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2015/07/OPP1130334 and The ELMA Foundation (ELMA-15-F0010) http://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/the-elma-foundation/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect positions or policies of Merck, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, or The ELMA Foundation.