dc.contributor.author | Makworo, D | |
dc.contributor.author | Laving, AM | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2013-04-27T09:31:11Z | |
dc.date.available | 2013-04-27T09:31:11Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2010 | |
dc.identifier.citation | East Afr Med J.2010 Aug;87(8):340-4. | en |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hinari-gw.who.int/whalecomwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/whalecom0/pubmed/23451557 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/17312 | |
dc.description.abstract | OBJECTIVE:
To determine the prevalence of childhood preventable and treatable medical conditions and the parent's/guardian's knowledge about the conditions and their management.
DESIGN:
A descriptive cross-sectional study.
SETTING:
Paediatric medical wards at Kenyatta National hospital
SUBJECTS:
All children aged 0-60 months with preventable conditions (that included pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea/dehydration, meningitis and malnutrition) in paediatric wards who had stayed in the ward for 24 to 48 hours.
RESULTS:
Two hundred and fifty six parents/guardians staying with their children were recruited into the study. The vast majority (85.5%) of the children were aged less than two years. The prevalence of the acute treatable and preventable medical conditions was 88.6% over a one month period. The leading cause of admission for most children was pneumonia (31.6%) followed by malnutrition (16.8%) and gastro-enteritis (16%). Other conditions included neonatal sepsis (9.1%), measles (6%) and malaria (4.8%). The parents'/guardians' mean and median age was 26 years and the majority (89.8%) were mothers. A great proportion (46.5%) of the parents/guardians had attained at least some primary education. More than 70% of the parents/guardians were found to lack knowledge about their children's health problems and the drugs they were using. This was regardless of the parent's/guardians level of education and the frequency of admission of the child.
CONCLUSION:
Acute preventable and treatable medical conditions at KNH are highly prevalent, and the leading conditions include pneumonia, malnutrition and gastroenteritis. Most parents/guardians did not understand their children's health problems regardless of their level of education. | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.title | Acute medical conditions in under five year old children at a public hospital in Kenya | en |
dc.type | Article | en |
local.publisher | Department of Nursing Sciences, Kenyatta University, Kenya | en |