title: Newborn care practices and health seeking behavior in urban slums and villages of Anand, Gujarat.
abstract: Health status of neonates in urban slums has not been studied in smaller towns. A questionnaire was administered to 154 families of 10 urban slums of Anand (population - 197351) and 160 families from 6 villages of Anand district. The socioeconomic and education status of the slum dwellers versus rural participants were significantly lower (P<0.001). Antenatal care (79.9 vs 94.4%, P<0.001), hospital delivery (82.5 vs 93.8%, P=0.002), neonatal follow-up (27.9 vs 78.8%, P<0.001), health seeking (56.5 vs 91.3%, P<0.001), essential newborn care and exclusive breastfeeding (6.5 vs 85.6%, P<0.001) were also lower in urban slums, as compared to villages, Care seeking was low in urban slums, Hindus and illiterate mothers. Health care and socioeconomic status of neonates in slums of smaller cities is poorer than in surrounding villages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad, Charutar Arogya Mandal, Karamsad, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Archana S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Nimbalkar
authors.forename: Vivek V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Ajay G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Phatak
authors.forename: Somashekhar M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Nimbalkar
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006700:Home Childbirth / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007224:Infant Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population