Search

Background: The occurrence of pregnancy in the postpartum period poses a risk to women and their infants, and it also has increased risks of adverse health outcomes if a pregnancy happens less than two years after the preceding birth. Utilization of immediate postpartum family planning is a possible and simple way to reduce these unfavourable outcomes. However, only a small proportion of mothers use the service; but the reasons appear unclear. Thus, this study aimed to determine the level and factors associated with the utilization of immediate postpartum family planning in Bole sub-city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia., Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was carried out from August 15 to September 15, 2022, among mothers who gave birth one year before the data collection period. A total of 425 mothers were selected with a systematic random sampling technique. A pretested and structured questionnaire was administered to collect data. Data entry and analysis were done by Statistical Package for Social Sciences 25. Chi-square, multicollinearity and Hosmer-Lemshaw model fitness tests were tested. The level of utilization was determined by descriptive statistics and the associated factors were determined by a binary logistic regression model, and presented with the adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). All statistical tests were conducted at a 5% level of significance., Results: Utilization of family planning method immediately after birth was 12.9% (95% CI = 11.3-14.5%), and it was statistically significantly associated with ages between 25 and 34 years (AOR = 5; 95% CI [1.38-18.41]) and 35 years and above (AOR = 6[1.47-25.70]), unfavourable attitude (AOR = 0.2[0.11-0.31]) and no counselling about immediate postpartum family planning during antenatal care visit (AOR = 0.43[0.20-0.89])., Conclusion and Recommendations: The level of utilization of immediate postpartum family planning is low in the study area. To improve it, dealing with younger women, working to achieve a positive attitude amongst women towards immediate postpartum family planning, and incorporating counselling about postpartum family planning methods during antenatal care visits are all recommended., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The care given to newborns immediately within the first few hours of birth is critical for their survival. However, their survival depends on the health professional's knowledge and skills to deliver appropriate newborn care interventions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of immediate newborn care among nurses and midwives in public health facilities of Afar Regional State, Northeast Ethiopia.Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study design was employed on 357 nurses and midwives working in 48 public health facilities (45 health centers and 3 hospitals) during April 2018. Data were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaire and observation checklist. Then, data were entered into Epi-info version 7.0 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were carried out to estimate odds ratio with 95% confidence interval. A p-value less than 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance.Results: Overall, 53.8% [95% CI: (48.6, 59.0%)] and 62.7% [(95% CI: (57.7, 67.8%))] of the health professionals (midwives and nurses) had adequate knowledge and good practice on immediate newborn care, respectively. Working in hospital [AOR: 4.62; 95% CI (1.76, 12.10)], being a female [AOR: 0.59; 95% CI (0.39, 0.98)] and interested in providing newborn care [AOR: 0.29; 95% CI (0.13, 0.68)] were positively associated with having adequate knowledge on immediate newborn care. On the other hand, having work experience of < 5 years [AOR: 0.33; 95% CI (0.14, 0.78)], inadequate knowledge [AOR: 0.39; 95% CI (0.25, 0.64)], having work load [AOR: 2.09; 95% CI (1.17, 3.73)], being not interested to provide immediate newborn care [AOR: 0.35; 95% CI (0.16, 0.74)] and working in health center [AOR: 8.56; 95% CI (2.39, 30.63)] were negatively associated with good immediate newborn care practices.Conclusions: A significant number of nurses and midwives had inadequate knowledge and poor practice on immediate newborn care. Therefore, providing a comprehensive newborn care training and creating an opportunity for nurses and midwives working at health centers to share experience from those hired in hospitals are very crucial to improve their knowledge and skills on newborn care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]