Knowledge about child heath care of health workers in Hoa Binh province, Vietnam

Huy Van Nguyen, Cham Thi Nguyen, Long Hoang Nguyen

Abstract


The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of commune health workers on issues related to child health. In a cross-sectional survey using quantitative methods, 288 health workers in 3 districts were approached for data collection. Results showed that commune health workers were limitedly knowledgeable about child health care. In terms of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) knowledge, only about one third of health workers knew symptoms, classification and treatment of children with pneumonia, more than half of the participants had proper prescription for non-pneumonia (57.9%) and pneumonia (69.7%). With regard to acute diarrhea knowledge, 84.6% of participant cited shown the definition correctly, only 12.3% of them knew the duration of acute diarrhea and 71.4% of them answered digestive disorders were the etiology of diarrhea. No more than half of health workers pointed out the complications of dehydration in children. Very low rate of them knew the usage of antibiotics in diarrhea for children. The study revealed several gaps in the child healthcare knowledge among health workers in Hoa Binh province. The results suggested that it is important to design public health programs to build technical capacity for commune health workers.


Keywords


Primary health care; Knowledge of child health care; Commune health center; Health workers; Acute respiratory infections (ARIs); Diarrhea

Full Text:

PDF

References


Under-five mortality. 2017. https: //www.who.int/gho/child_health/mortality/mortality_under_five_text/en/. Accessed 11/6/2019.

UNICEF. The state of the World’s children 2008. Unicef for every child2008.

Office TGS. Survey assessment of Vietnamese women and children, 2014. 2014.

UNFPA. Report on midwifery status in the world, 2014. 2014.

Health HBDo. Conference on Reproductive Health Care2015.

Thiem LV. Doctor's activities at commune health centers and evaluation of effectiveness of interventions to improve the performance quality of commune health centers in Hai Duong province, 2007 [Doctoral thesis], Ha Noi Medical University; 2007.

Nguyen HMT. Interventions to change knowledge, treatment practices, counseling for under-five children with acute respiratory infections by health staffs, 2011. Journal of Practical Medicine. 2011;751(2):63-65.