Abstract
Objectives
Mothers in resource-limited areas face barriers in initiating care for ill newborns, leading to delays that may contribute to newborn mortality. This qualitative study conducted in rural Lufwanyama District in Zambia aimed to (1) explore mothers’ healthcare-seeking related to newborn illness and (2) identify reasons for delaying care-seeking for ill newborns.
Methods
We examined the perspectives of 60 mothers and 77 grandmothers of children under three years of age in 14 focus group discussions as part of the Lufwanyama Integrated Neonatal and Child Health Program study. We conducted a thematic analysis of verbatim transcripts using dedicated software.
Results
Mothers and grandmothers were generally able to identify newborn danger signs and established a hierarchy of care-seeking based on the perceived severity of danger signs. However, inability to afford transportation, inaccessible health care facilities, high costs of medication prescribed at the health clinics, lack of respectful treatment and fear of newborns dying in the hospital prevented participants from seeking timely care. As traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and community health care workers (CHWs) have limited roles in newborns care beyond the immediate delivery setting, mothers often resorted to traditional healers for newborn care.
Conclusions
Based on cultural beliefs and influenced by traditions, mothers in Lufwanyama have developed hierarchical strategies to seek care for ill newborns. Barriers to treatment at health facilities often resulted in traditional care. Training both TBAs and CHWs in providing community-based newborn care and appropriate referrals could improve care-seeking and prevent newborn mortality in rural Zambia.
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Data Availability
All data will be made available upon reasonable request.
Code Availability
Not applicable.
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Funding
The study was funded under the USAID Child Survival and Health Grants Program Cooperative Agreement (GHS-A-00-09-00013-000).
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LT and HG contributed to the analyses and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. SK and KL contributed to data collection. KY-A, DHH and KL conceived of the study, led the analyses and oversaw manuscript writing. All authors provided important intellectual content, contributed to manuscript writing and read and approved its final version.
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The study was obtained from the Boston University Medical Campus Institutional Review Board and the Tropical Diseases Research Centre Ethical Review Committee.
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We obtained informed consent from all study participants in their preferred language (English, Bemba, or Lamba).
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The authors Lucy Thairu and Hanna Gehling contributed equally as first authors.
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Thairu, L., Gehling, H., Kafwanda, S. et al. Care-Seeking Behavior for Newborns in Rural Zambia. Matern Child Health J 26, 1375–1383 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03329-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03329-7