2024, Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part A

A neonate is a child who is four weeks old or less and is also known as newborn. Every minute while neonatal infections accounts for 33% of neonatal death (UNICEF). The study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice on prevention of neonatal infections among mothers.

A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out using consecutive sampling technique. Data was collected from 125 mothers using self-administered structured questionnaire. Majority of the mothers had poor knowledge 66 (52.8%) on prevention of neonatal infections. While 74(59.2%) instilled breast milk on eyes, 2(1.6%) applied Kajal and 3 (2.4) used sin door and 2(1.6) still used cow-dung for prevention of umbilical infection. Association was found between knowledge score and educational qualification and occupation.

The study concludes that the mothers had inadequate knowledge and also practices some of the harmful and unhygienic methods while caring their neonates.