Essential newborn care practices in Zambia

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Neonatal Health
• Maternal and Child Health

Background:

• Neonatal mortality in Zambia is declining slower than other child mortality rates.
• Essential newborn care (ENC) practices are vital for mitigating neonatal mortality.
• Understanding current ENC adoption is key to improving outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the adoption rates of essential newborn care (ENC) practices in Zambia.
• To identify associations between maternal/social demographics and ENC practices.
• To inform strategies for scaling up newborn care in Zambia.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing data from 12,507 households, including 5,741 women with children under two.
• Assessment of key ENC practices: thermal care, umbilical cord care, and breastfeeding.
• Chi-square analysis to determine relationships between demographic factors and ENC adoption.

Main Results:

• High adoption of immediate drying (95.4%), wrapping (96.5%), and early breastfeeding initiation (89.3%).
• Lower adoption rates for appropriate thermal care (51.6% for all four practices) and umbilical cord care (31.2% for all three practices).
• Early and exclusive breastfeeding widely practiced (82% for all three aspects).

Conclusions:

• While breastfeeding practices are strong, appropriate thermal and umbilical cord care require significant improvement in Zambia.
• Skilled birth attendance (SBA) is associated with better thermal and cord care practices.
• Scaling up appropriate newborn care, supported by SBA, is essential to reduce neonatal mortality.