Child health status and maternal and child care in Quangtri Province, Vietnam.
Save the Children's CS-18 Project implemented from 2003 to 2008 aimed to improve child health and nutritional status people in Quangtri Province through the increased use of life-saving health interventions, both behaviors and services. This baseline survey, conducted at the start of the project to provide data to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention upon its completion. A household survey was conducted of four hundred mothers of children under 2 years of age. Logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between maternal care behaviours and child health, controlling for confounding variables. In-depth interviews with 27 mothers and 4 focus group discussions with 38 mothers were also conducted. The rate of childhood malnutrition was 40.5%. The percentage of mothers that gave birth at home was 56.5%, and only 35.4% of these used a clean home delivery kit. Health staff only attended approximately 17.7% deliveries. Few mothers and newborns (23.8%) were checked after delivery. About half the mothers 54% did not feed their child colostrum, and most mothers (81.6%) stopped breastfeeding before 18 months. 58.8% of the children were sick within a month of birth. Child malnutrition was associated with child sex, age, birth weight, ethnicity, and socio-economic status (P < .001). Low rates of safe delivery and child care practices and high rates of infant illness indicate a need for improved service provision and education. Health facilities should be staffed continuously, promote village health workers in villages. Health staff should carry out a health communication campaign about maternal and child health. Family members, especially husbands, should be encouraged to take care of recent mothers during pregnancy and delivery.
Bui
Quyen Tu
QT
Biostatistics Department, Hanoi School of Public Health, Vietnam. btq@hsph.edu.vn
Le Linh
Cu
C
Rahman
Zarah
Z
D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007224:Infant Care; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D011181:Postnatal Care; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult