Knowledge assessment of women of reproductive age on birth defects: a descriptive cross-sectional study in Kenya.

Autor:	Agot GN; Department of Public and Global Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya., Wang Ombe JK; Department of Public and Global Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya., Mweu MM; Department of Public and Global Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The Pan African medical journal [Pan Afr Med J] 2024 Jun 28; Vol. 48, pp. 79. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 28 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI:	10.11604/pamj.2024.48.79.43037
Abstrakt:	Introduction: birth defects are defined as structural or functional congenital malformations occurring during intrauterine and detectable prenatally, at birth, or later. Birth defects-awareness creation among women of reproductive age would help in preventing the occurrence of birth defects of known aetiology worldwide. Thus, this study aimed to assess the birth defects knowledge of women of reproductive age. Methods: we adopted a descriptive cross-sectional study design in eleven purposively selected public hospitals. The study population comprised women with children under five years, and attending child-welfare clinics at the study hospitals. Descriptive analyses consisting of means, standard deviations, medians, and ranges were used to summarize continuous variables, whereas, percentages and proportions were used to summarize categorical variables. Results: the median age of the study participants was 26 years with a mean of 27 (Standard Deviation=5, Range=17-42). A majority (77%) achieved at least a secondary level of education, while the median gravidity was 2 with a mean of 2 (Standard Deviation=1, Range; 1-8). The study participants' knowledge was above average (67%), implying in every 10 of reproductive age 3 had sub-optimal knowledge of birth defects. Conclusion: women of reproductive age were substantially deficient in birth defects knowledge in the county. Thus, we would like to recommend to public health policymakers and health care providers to formulate short health messages on birth defects tailored to women attending child welfare and antenatal clinics at all levels of health care including community health services in the county. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. (Copyright: George Nyadimo Agot et al.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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