%0 Journal Article
%T Neonatal jaundice and its management: knowledge, attitude and practice of community health workers in Nigeria
%A Olusoga B Ogunfowora
%A Olusoji J Daniel
%J BMC Public Health
%D 2006
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2458-6-19
%X The setting was a local government area i.e. an administrative district within the south-western part of Nigeria. Community health workers in this area were interviewed by means of a self-administered questionnaire which focused on awareness and knowledge of neonatal jaundice and its causes, treatment and complications.Sixty-six community health workers participated in the survey and male-to-female ratio was 1:5. Their work experience averaged 13.5 (SD 12.7) years. Only 51.5% of the respondents gave a correct definition of NNJ. 75.8 % knew how to examine for this condition while 84.9 % knew at least two of its major causes in our environment. Also, only 54.5 % had adequate knowledge of effective treatment namely, phototherapy and exchange blood transfusion. Rather than referring affected babies to hospitals for proper management, 13.4 %, 10.4 % and 3 % of the participants would treat with ineffective drugs, natural phototherapy and herbal remedies respectively. None of the participants knew any effective means of prevention.Primary health care workers may have inadequate knowledge and misconceptions on NNJ which must be addressed concertedly before the impact of the condition on child health and well-being can be significantly reduced. We recommend regular training workshops and seminars for this purpose.Primary health care workers are the closest health care providers to the community. By virtue of the location of their duty-post at the periphery of health care delivery network, they serve the important function of 'triaging' patients at the first point of call. With regard to pediatric patients, they are trained to treat minor ailments, administer vaccinations, refer very ill patients to bigger hospitals (2กใ and 3กใ care levels) and provide health education to carers of the children among other things. Furthermore, due to the shortage of medically qualified personnel in developing countries, they are given the added responsibility of heading primary health centers.
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/6/19