title: South Vietnamese Rural Mothers' Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice in Child Health Care.
abstract: A study of 600 rural under-five mothers' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) in child care was performed in 4 southern provinces of Vietnam. The mothers were randomly selected and interviewed about sociodemographic factors, health seeking behaviour, and practice of home care of children and neonates. 93.2% of the mothers were literate and well-educated, which has been shown to be important for child health care. 98.5% were married suggesting a stable family, which is also of importance for child health. Only 17.3% had more than 2 children in their family. The mother was the main caretaker in 77.7% of the families. Only 1% would use quacks as their first health contact, but 25.2% would use a private clinic, which therefore eases the burden on the government system. Nearly 69% had given birth in a hospital, 27% in a commune health station, and only 2.7% at home without qualified assistance. 89% were giving exclusive breast feeding at 6 months, much more frequent than in the cities. The majority of the mothers could follow IMCI guideline for home care, although 25.2% did not deal correctly with cough and 38.7% did not deal correctly with diarrhoea. Standard information about Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) based home care is still needed.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital 1 (CH1), 341 Su Van Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Dinh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thac
authors.affiliation: The Juliane Marie Centre, University Clinic of Children and Adolescents, Rigshospitalet, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Freddy Karup
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital 1 (CH1), 341 Su Van Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Tang Chi
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Thuong
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital 1 (CH1), 341 Su Van Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Le Bich
authors.initials: le B
authors.lastname: Lien
authors.affiliation: Ho Chi Minh Child Welfare Association, 85/65 Pham Viet Chanh Street, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Nguyen Thi
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Ngoc Anh
authors.affiliation: Ho Chi Minh Child Welfare Association, 85/65 Pham Viet Chanh Street, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Nguyen Ngoc
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Phuc
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002654:Child Care; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D012424:Rural Population; D014744:Vietnam