Cultural patterns and outcome of umbilical cord care among caregivers in Africa: a systematic review.

Abstract

In order to find published studies on cultural patterns and outcomes of umbilical cord care among caregivers in Africa from January 2015 to December 2021, we conducted a systematic literature search across six computerized bibliographic databases: Google Scholar, POPLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, and Scopus. As a result, a narrative synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data was employed to summarize the data from the included research. There were 17 studies included in this review with 16 out of the 17 studies having a total of 5757 participants. The odds of neonatal sepsis were 13 times higher among infants whose caregivers had improper hygiene compared with those who had proper hygiene. The outcome of cord management showed that the majority (75.1%) of the umbilical cords were infected. Majority of the included studies (n=13) show that the respondents (caregivers) had a low level of knowledge and practice. This systematic review reveals that unsafe umbilical cord-care practices remained prevalent in some African regions. Home delivery is still a prevalent practice in some communities and inappropriate umbilical cord cleaning practices were common findings.