Abstract
IntroductionReducing neonatal mortality is an essential part of the third Sustainable Development Goal, to end preventable child deaths. Neonatal danger signs are the most common cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity. In Ethiopia, most babies are born at home or are discharged from the health institutions in the first 24 h, as a result enhancing women’s knowledge towards neonatal danger signs and its complication might reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the women knowledge towards neonatal danger signs in Ethiopia.MethodMEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Hinari, Google scholar, web of science electronic databases and grey literature from repository were searched for all the available studies. Fourteen cross sectional studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis was conducted for the evidence of heterogeneity. Cochrane I2 statistics were used to check the heterogeneity of the studies. Egger test with funnel plot were used to investigate publication bias.ResultFourteen cross-sectional studies with a total of 6617 study participants were included for this study. The overall pooled prevalence of women’s knowledge towards neonatal danger sign was 40.7% (95%CI, 25.72, 55.67). Having higher educational status of the women (AOR = 3.86, 95%CI: 2.3–6.5), having higher educational status of the husband (AOR = 4.57, 95%CI: 3.29–6.35), access to mass media (AOR = 1.69, 95%CI: 1.17–2.23), having antenatal care visits (AOR = 2.63, 95%CI: 1.13–4.67), having postnatal care follow up (AOR = 2.55, 95%CI; 1.72–3.79) and giving birth at health institutions (AOR = 2.51, 95%CI:1.68–3.74) were factors associated with knowledge of the women towards danger sign of the neonate.ConclusionIn this systematic review and meta-analysis the pooled prevalence of maternal knowledge towards neonatal danger sign was low. Educational status of the mother, educational status of the husband, access to mass media, antenatal care follow-up, postnatal care follow-up and place of delivery were factors associated with knowledge of the mother towards danger sign of the newborn. Promoting antenatal care, postnatal care follow-up and community-based health information dissemination about neonatal danger signs should be strengthened.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42019132179.
Highlights
Reducing neonatal mortality is an essential part of the third Sustainable Development Goal, to end preventable child deaths
Educational status of the mother, educational status of the husband, access to mass media, antenatal care follow-up, postnatal care follow-up and place of delivery were factors associated with knowledge of the mother towards danger sign of the newborn
Women’s knowledge of neonatal danger sign is crucial to influence their decisions to seek immediate health care for their sick neonate who contributes a lot in reducing neonatal morbidity, mortality and related to disease presented with danger signs [3, 4]
Summary
Reducing neonatal mortality is an essential part of the third Sustainable Development Goal, to end preventable child deaths. Neonatal danger signs are the most common cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity. In Ethiopia, most babies are born at home or are discharged from the health institutions in the first 24 h, as a result enhancing women’s knowledge towards neonatal danger signs and its complication might reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality. Neonates are the most vulnerable age group of the human population They aren’t small adults, they need to be regarded with special nursery and special care [1]. Women’s knowledge of neonatal danger sign is crucial to influence their decisions to seek immediate health care for their sick neonate who contributes a lot in reducing neonatal morbidity, mortality and related to disease presented with danger signs [3, 4]. The number of neonatal deaths declined from 5 million in 1990 to 2.5 million in 2018 globally, decreasing neonatal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia is difficult to avert the significant burden of neonatal mortality [5,6,7]
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