International Journal of Healthcare Sciences ISSN 2348-5728 (Online) Vol. 8, Issue 1, pp: (300-309), Month: April 2020 - September 2020, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
Knowledge and practice of acute diarrhoeal control in under-five children among primary health care workers in Bende LGA, Abia State, Nigeria Madu James Awa1, Prince EzenwaNdubueze Onyemachi2, Mazi Ejikem3, Juliet Uju Enukeme4 1
Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Gregory University, Uturu. Abia State. 2
Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Abia State University, Uturu. Abia State.
3
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba. Abia State. 4
Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Abia State University, Uturu. Abia State. Correspondence. Madu James Awa. email: maduawa2000@yahoo.com. 08033418221.
Abstract: Introduction Acute diarrhoea diseases remain a leading cause of preventable death, especially among under- five children in developing countries. This study assessed the knowledge and practice of diarrhoea disease control among primary health care workers in selected facilities in Bende LGA, Abia State. Methods A facility – based cross sectional study carried out from Jan, 6 – 20, 2020. Data were collected using pre-tested, interviewer administered, semi-structured questionnaire in three sections and analyzed with Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Frequency tables and chi- square test were done with level of significance at p ≤ 0.05. Results A total of 150 questionnaires were analyzed. The mean age of respondents was 40.22±8.64, with females, 140(93.3%), married 118(78.7%), and had children 114(76.0%). Knowledge of diarrhoea disease was good with overall score >80%. Religion and having at least a child showed statistically significant associations with the knowledge of acute diarrhea( X2 =15.0; P-value=0.002, and X2 =26.0; P-value =0.001 respectively).There was also good promotion of practice of diarrhoea control with score >80%. Marital status (χ 2 = 16.8, P-value < 0.001), having at least a child (χ 2 = 12.07, P-value < 0.001) ,religion (χ 2 = 16.91, P-value < 0.025) and knowledge about acute diarrhoea (χ 2 = 28.025, P-value < 0.001) showed statistically significant associations with the promotion of practice of acute diarrhoeal control. Conclusion The respondents showed good knowledge of diarhoea disease and promotion of practice of its control. The major source of information for their knowledge was from workshop trainings. This exemplifies the need for sustained human resource capacity building at the primary health care level. Keywords: Health care workers; knowledge; practice; control; diarrhoea disease.
1. INTRODUCTION Primary health care is “the first level of contact of individuals, the family and community with the national health system bringing health care as close as possible to where people live and work and constitutes the first element of a continuing health care process”. [1] One of its elements is prevention and control of locally endemic and epidemic
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