Acute respiratory infections in rural samia-bugwe county Tororo District, Uganda: knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers, and mortality
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Date
1995-08Author
Oundo, George A M
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
A study of 300 mothers who had children aged below five years was
carr ied out to descri be their KAP concerning ARI, their heal th
seeking behaviour and also describe some risk factors and estimate
ARI mortality among young children.
The causes of pneumonia and measles were not known by 66% and 51%
of the mothers respectively. Mothers with a better education were
more likely to know the causes of measles. While 30% of the mothers
had good knowledge of symptoms of pneumonia, only 19% had good
knowledge of symptoms which indicate its severity. As for measles,
70% of the mothers had good knowledge of its symptoms. Though most
mothers considered measles to be a serious disease, only 46% knew
vaccination as a preventive measure against it. Breastfeeding,
giving of fluids and food during ARI illness were frequently
practised in this community. Mothers usually gave drugs to their
children who had cough or common cold. The better educated mothers
were more likely than others to use cough medicines to treat their
childrens' coughs. When consultation was sought for a sick child,
health centres/clinics were preferred to drug shops and hospitals.
Through verbal autopsy, it was found that 63% of the child deaths
below five years of age, In this area, were probably due to
pneumonia.
Indoor air pollution due to a high proportion of poorly ventilated
cooking places and highly prevalent use of wood fuel for cooking is
a possible risk factor for ARI in this are~.
ARI intervention should be planned and implemented In Samia Bugwe.
Citation
Oundo, G. A.M. B(1995). Acute respiratory infections in rural Samia-Bugwe county Tororo district, Uganda: knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers, and .mortalityPublisher
Department of Community Health, University of Nairobi
Subject
Acute respiratory infectionsRural Samia-Bugwe county
Tororo District
Uganda
Knowledge
Attitudes
Practices
Mothers
Mortality
Description
Master of Public Health Thesis