Abstract:
Background: Neonatal danger has become a substantial problem in many developing countries like Ethiopia. More
specifically, neonatal rates in Ethiopia are among the highest in the world. In this regard, health-seeking behavior of
mothers for neonatal care highly relies on their knowledge about neonatal danger sign, and it has been hardly investigated. Therefore, this study was intended to determine the level of mother’s knowledge about neonatal danger signs
and to identify factors associated with good mother’s knowledge.
Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2014. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 603 mothers. A structured, pre-tested, and interview-administered questionnaire
comprehending 13 neonatal danger signs was employed to collect the data. Data were entered into EPI-Info 3.5.2 and
analyzed by SPSS version 16. Binary logistic regression model was used to identify associated factors. Odds ratio with
95% CI was computed to assess the strength and significant level of the association.
Results: All mothers expected to participate in the study were interviewed. The results of the study showed that
mothers who had knowledge of three or more neonatal danger signs (good knowledge) were found to be 18.2%
(95% CI 15.1, 21.3%). The odds of having good knowledge was positively associated with mother’s (AOR = 3.41, 95%
CI 1.37, 8.52) and father’s (AOR = 3.91, 95% CI 1.23, 12.36) higher educational achievement. Similarly, the odds of
having good knowledge about neonatal danger signs was higher among Antenatal care (AOR = 2.28, 95% CI 1.05,
4.95) and Postnatal care attendant mothers (AOR = 2.08, 95% CI 1.22, 3.54). Furthermore, access to television was also
associated with mothers’ good knowledge about neonatal danger signs (AOR = 3.49, 95% CI 1.30, 9.39).
Conclusion: Maternal knowledge about neonatal danger signs was low. Therefore, intervention modalities that focus
on increasing level of parental education, access to antenatal and postnatal care and PNC service, and advocating the
use of television was pinpointed
