title: Child health status and maternal and child care in Quangtri Province, Vietnam.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Department, Hanoi School of Public Health, Vietnam. btq@hsph.edu.vn
authors.forename: Quyen Tu
authors.initials: QT
authors.lastname: Bui
authors.forename: Cu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Le Linh
authors.forename: Zarah
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rahman
mesh_terms: 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