Newborn cord care practices amongst mothers in Hayin Dogo Community, Northwestern Nigeria: Results from a cross-sectional survey
Background: Global policy regarding optimal umbilical cord care to prevent neonatal infections is an active ongoing discussion among researchers and policymakers. Newborn cord care practices may directly contribute to infections, which account for a large proportion of the 4 million annual global neonatal deaths. Umbilical cord care varies often reflecting community or health-worker beliefs. The study aimed to assess the practice and factors influencing the choice of newborn cord care amongst mothers in the Hayin Dogo Community of Samaru, Kaduna State.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional descriptive study using a multi-staged sampling technique was carried out amongst 278 mothers. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection and the data was analyzed with a statistical package for social sciences software (SPSS), version 20. Descriptive analyses were performed by calculating simple frequencies and carrying out cross-tabulations. Associations between categorical variables were tested for significance using the Chi-square test. Statistical significance was said to be achieved where the P-value is less than 0.05.
Results: The mean age of the mothers was 28.71±6.39 years and more than one-third (38.8%) were in the age group 21-27 years. The majority (64.0%) of the respondents were Hausas by tribe. Methylated spirit (53.8%) was the commonest agent used in cord care followed by the use of hot water as hot compression (27.4%) and one mother (0.4%) reported using animal dung for cord care. Two-thirds (65.5%) of the respondents had appropriate newborn cord care practices. Age, ethnicity, occupation and educational status were the factors influencing the practice and choice of newborn cord care [p=0.001].
Conclusion: The study showed that a significant proportion of mothers in the Hayin-Dogo community had appropriate newborn cord care practices. However, there is still the need for improved community awareness of appropriate cord care practices to sustain such healthy practices and also ensure more mothers are recruited into such practices.
Keywords: Cord care, Newborn, Practice
*Correspondence: lawalkuki@gmail.com, 08036004648
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