Perception of Neonatal Jaundice Among Women Attending Children out Patient and Immunization Clinics of the UPTH Port Harcourt

Background: Neonatal Jaundice (NNJ) is a common disorder worldwide. Early identification and proper management is needed to prevent the serious neurological complications associated with it.

Objective: To determine the knowledge of the women attending Children Outpatient (CHOP) and Immunization clinics on the causes, treatment and complications of neonatal jaundice.

Method: Women who brought their children/wards to the immunization/children out patient clinics at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital Port Harcourt were interviewed using structured questionaire.

Results: There were 255 mothers who participated in the study. Of these 30 (11.8%) have never heard of neonatal jaundice while 225 (88.2%) have heard and only those who have heard were further analyzed. The age range was from 16 to 47 yrs (mean age 27.1 +/- 3.3 years). Median parity was 2. One hundred and twenty two (54.2%) women had tertiary education. One hundred and seventy four (77.3%) correctly defined neonatal jaundice, and in 114 (44.7%) source of information was from health talk in the clinic. Seventy five (33.3%), and 50 (22.2%) erroneously believed that eating too much groundnut in pregnancy and mosquito bite respectively were the main causes while 55 (24.4%) correctly answered that it is due to mismatch of mother and baby's blood. Only a few knew that use of dusting powder on baby's cord, prematurity, and storing baby's clothes in camphor were risk factors for NNJ. One hundred and fourteen (50.7%) and 60 (26.7%), wrongly believed that exposure to sunlight and use of glucose drinks respectively were the main forms of treatment and 50 (22.2%) knew brain damage as a possible complication

Conclusion: There is still misconception on the causes and risk factors and treatment of neonatal jaundice among our women. Also only a few women are reached by the health talk in the clinics. There is therefore urgent need for massive health enlightenment campaign.