KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES OF UMBILICAL CORD CARE AMONG MOTHERS AGED 18-40 YEARS ATTENDING POSTNATAL CARE AT KAWOLO HOSPITAL BUIKWE DISTRICT. A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY.

Abstract

Background: 

Harmful umbilical cord care contributes to neonatal infection, by which it’s a common portal of entry for invasive pathogenic. In turn, this leads to the death of many neonates. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of umbilical cord care among mothers aged 18-40 years in Kawolo General Hospital Buikwe district.

 Methods: 

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 138 postnatal mothers using a simple random method. Data was collected from October to November 2023. Using a closed-ended questionnaire data was entered into Microsoft Excel 2007 for analysis and presentation.

 Results: 

The majority of the mothers were married, between the ages of 25-30 years, and worked as businesswomen. The majority of respondents 100/138 (80%) understood the definition of newborn cord care. All the participants 138/138 (100%) revealed using cord ligatures to tie the baby’s cord during delivery. The majority of the mothers, 91/138 (66%) only cleaned their baby’s cord once a day. While 120/138 (94%) applied warm saline water on the cord stump of the baby while at home, 8/138 (6%) used chlorhexidine.   

 Conclusion: 

The majority of the respondents had accurate knowledge about cord care of newborns with the benefits of clean cord care being to prevent infection but a few knew when the cord would detach and their source of information was mainly from their mothers or in-laws. 

 Recommendations: 

Health professionals should continue to make an effort to prevent morbidity and mortality rates related to umbilical cord infections as a result of poor cord care practices through health education and sensitizing the community about the dangers of poor cord practices.