An Evaluation of Parental Nutritional and Healthcare Awareness and Practices during Early Childhood in Karachi: an Insight from Mothers Belonging to Low-socioeconomic Class

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Health of mother and child is a major concern for Pakistan. Due to low literacy, poverty and lack of awareness, malnutrition is alarmingly common. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to evaluate early childhood nutritional and healthcare practices in low socioeconomic class of Karachi. METHODOLOGY: This survey based cross-sectional study was conducted at outpatient department of National Institute of Child Health (NICH) from 15th April to 31st July 2015. Mothers (n=207) having children below 3 years of age were included in the study. Responses were tabulated and analyzed using SPSS and Open Epi software. Prior ethical approval was obtained from Institute of Business Management and from NICH. RESULT: Data from 207 respondents showed that majority of mothers 81.2% (n= 168) were without any formal schooling. Only 32.9% (n=68) children had appropriate weight for their age, while 83.6% (n=173) had some history of vaccination. Initiation of breastfeeding and weaning was found to be mostly at appropriate time. No association between gender and weight for age, and gender with vaccination status was found. Chi-square test for association between education of parents and immunization showed significant association in both mother (p=0.05) and father (p=0.008). CONCLUSION: The awareness regarding child health in mothers needs more improvement. Measures must be taken to broaden awareness as it will help in improving the healthcare status of mother and child both.