Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Newborn Care Among Postnatal Mothers at Debre Tabor General Hospital South Gonder, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, 2018

Background: Globally per year four million children die within the initial four weeks of life. And four million babies are born still.. Most neonatal deaths (99%) occur in low financial gain and middle-income countries and concerning half the deaths occur at their home. it’s tragic that several newborn die per annum which could be simply preventable by newborn care. It is calculable that concerning seventy fifth of neonatal deaths might be avoided with easy, low value tools that exist already like antibiotics for respiratory disease and infection, sterile blades to chop the point cords exploitation knit caps and marsupial care to stay babies’ heat.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of newborn care among postnatal mothers at Debre tabor general hospital, south Gonder Zone, Amhara region, Ethiopia 2018.

Methods: An institutional based cross-sectional study design was used for this study. Sample size was e calculated by using single population proportion formula. Final study subjects was selected using simple random sampling methods from those found in the Debre tabor general Hospital during data collection time until the sample size is fulfilled. The total sample size was 340. The data was collected by face to face interview after the instrument is pretested and necessary modification was made .The data were entered and analyzed by Excel.

Result: A total of 186 postnatal mothers were interviewed with a response rate of 100%. among them 81.2% had good knowledge 87.6% had positive attitude and 89.8% had good practice of newborn care.

Conclusion: This study indicates that nearly half and above respondents had good knowledge positive attitude and good practice of newborn care.

Abbreviations and Acronyms: AAP: American Academy of Pediatrics; ANC: Antenatal Care; BCG: Bacilli Chalmette Guerin; DPT: Diphtheria Peruses Tetanus; EDHS: Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey; MDG: Millennium Development Goals; MD: Mean Difference; OPV: Oral Polio Vaccine; RDW: Recently-Delivered Women; UNICEF: United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fun