THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES OF CHILDHOOD PNEUMONIA OF PARENTS IN SLUM AREA OF PAKISTAN

Abstract

TYPE: Abstract TOPIC: Pediatrics PURPOSE: To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices for childhood-pneumonia of parents in slum area of Pakistan. METHODS: A cross sectional study was done including parents from a slum area coming to the OPD. There, a well-trained person asked them the questions from the well-developed, pretested questionnaire and filled and analyzed on Google forms himself. RESULTS: Almost 84.1% had heard about childhood-pneumonia. The source of information for mostly (55.4%) was someone known while TV/Internet, health-care worker & newspaper/pamphlet also contributed to 32.1%, 30.4% & 16.1% respectively. They mentioned fungus (45%), insects (35%) and virus/bacteria (10%) each as the cause of childhood-pneumonia. Some (26.3%) said their child has got pneumonia. An infected child from pneumonia can have symptoms of fever (77.8%), Fast/difficult breathing (72.2%), chest-pain (70.4%), cough (63%), stuffy-nose (57.4%) and vomiting/nausea (25.9%). Some (47.4%) think if their child get pneumonia, they can get the idea just by symptoms. Mostly (81.8%) said if a child gets pneumonia, parents should first go to qualified doctor while 14.5% said parents should first treat at home. Majority said causes of childhood pneumonia are cold weather (98.1%) and having cold water & eatables (96.3%). Majority (92.7%) thought pneumonia is preventable. Only 48.1% said pneumonia can spread from infected child to someone else. Majority (78.9%) told there isn’t any vaccine for childhood-pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the parents have heard and know about the childhood-pneumonia but they still lack basic knowledge/ causes/ symptoms and practices. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: There should be proper awareness surveys and seminars for parents about knowledge and prevention of childhood pneumonia. DISCLOSURE: Nothing to declare. KEYWORD: community