Kanu Joseph Sam, Tang Yuan, Liu Yawen
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun City, Jilin Province, P. R. China.
PLoS One. 2014 Aug 28;9(8):e105936. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105936. eCollection 2014.
Globally, Sierra Leone is ranked among the countries with the worst maternal and child health indicators. The mortality of women and children is significantly higher compared with other developing countries. The death of women and children can be prevented by simple cost-effective community-based interventions. The aim of this present study was to learn the knowledge levels of women on maternal and child health, and treatment-seeking and preventive behaviours in rural Sierra Leone and provide appropriate suggestions for policy makers. Moreover, the study also aimed to evaluate the effect of a husband's involvement on health knowledge and practices of women in rural Sierra Leone.
Women with at least a child of five years or below were interviewed in their households through a structured questionnaire. Characteristics of the households and of the respondents were collected and the number of correct answers given to the health knowledge and practice questions and their percentage distributions were tabulated and an overall health knowledge score was calculated.
The mean score of the derived overall health-related knowledge was 61.6% (maximum of 91% and a minimum of 18%) with a standard deviation of 14.7% and a median of 63.3%. Multivariable regression analyses showed education and number of pregnancies are associated with knowledge score, with significantly improved health knowledge scores amongst those who accessed higher education. There were some inappropriate practices in hygiene and sanitation. However, vaccination coverage was high with almost 100% coverage for BCG.
Based on the findings of this study, women's knowledge on maternal and child health care are inadequate in rural Sierra Leone. Health promotion activities focusing on prevention of diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia, improvement in health-related knowledge on pregnancy, delivery, neonatal care and environmental sanitation would be invaluable.
在全球范围内，塞拉利昂是孕产妇和儿童健康指标最差的国家之一。与其他发展中国家相比，该国妇女和儿童的死亡率显著更高。妇女和儿童的死亡可通过简单且具成本效益的社区干预措施加以预防。本研究的目的是了解塞拉利昂农村地区妇女对孕产妇和儿童健康的知识水平、寻求治疗和预防行为，并为政策制定者提供适当建议。此外，该研究还旨在评估丈夫参与对塞拉利昂农村地区妇女健康知识和行为的影响。
通过结构化问卷对家中至少有一名五岁及以下儿童的妇女进行访谈。收集家庭和受访者的特征，将健康知识和实践问题的正确答案数量及其百分比分布制成表格，并计算总体健康知识得分。
得出的总体健康相关知识的平均得分为61.6%（最高91%，最低18%），标准差为14.7%，中位数为63.3%。多变量回归分析显示，教育程度和怀孕次数与知识得分相关，接受高等教育者的健康知识得分显著提高。在卫生和环境卫生方面存在一些不当做法。然而，疫苗接种覆盖率很高，卡介苗接种覆盖率几乎达到100%。
基于本研究的结果，塞拉利昂农村地区妇女在孕产妇和儿童保健方面的知识不足。开展以预防腹泻、疟疾和肺炎、提高怀孕、分娩、新生儿护理及环境卫生相关健康知识为重点的健康促进活动将非常有价值。
