Gap between awareness and practices regarding maternal and child health among women in an urban slum community.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the knowledge of ever-married women regarding maternal and child health and to assess existing gap between awareness and practice levels of lactating mothers.


METHODS
Community based cross sectional study with 283 ever-married women in the reproductive age.


RESULTS
Low levels of awareness and practice of TT immunization (74.2% awareness, 58.1% practice), five-cleans (31.9% awareness and 14.4% practice), trained birth attendant (69.6% awareness 39.1% practice), and post-natal care (75.4% awareness and 51.0% practice) among lactating mothers. Knowledge regarding optimal infant and young child feeding practices was very poor: initiation of breast-feeding within six hours (17.4%), colostrum feeding (34.8%), exclusive breastfeeding (5.8%) and significant gaps between knowledge and practice were observed. Highly significant difference (P<0.001) between proportions of women aware of ICDS (59.4%) and of beneficiaries (21.7%). High levels of awareness regarding reproductive health parameters except for contraception: desire for two children (81.6%), legal ages at marriages for girls (84.5%), desired birth interval of three or more years (71.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
Wide gaps exist between awareness and practices related with MCH due to non-adoption of knowledge into actual practice, except some selected components lacking in both knowledge as well as practice. Need for bridging the existing gaps avoiding socio-cultural barriers and misconceptions prevailing in the community and by promoting and protecting healthy MCH care practices.
Department of Community Medicine, Govt. Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32-A, Chandigarh, India. dinesh_walia@rediffmail.com
Dinesh
D
Kumar
N K
NK
Goel
Meenu
M
Kalia
H M
HM
Swami
Ruchi
R
Singh
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D008875:Middle Aged; D011204:Poverty Areas; D014505:Urban Population