Neonatal Care Practices Among Post-Natal Mothers in Ghana: A Multi-Centre Study

Introduction: Neonatal care is a series of specialized care provided to newborns aimed at ensuring the health and well-being of newborns. This study aimed at assessing neonatal care practices among post-natal mothers in the Obuasi municipality of Ghana.
Methods: An institution-based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 423 post-natal mothers. A structured questionnaire was administered through an interview. A multivariate logistic regression model was set up to determine independent predictors of neonatal care practices among post-natal mothers.
Results: The study revealed that 67.1% of mothers had knowledge on safe cord care, 83.9% had good breastfeeding practices and all the respondents had good knowledge on danger signs recognition among newborns. Regarding overall neonatal care practice, 56.7% had good neonatal care practice. Age (AOR: 3.10, 95% CI: 0.84 – 12.10, P-value: 0.038), educational status (AOR: 5.23, 95% CI: 1.23 – 17.55, P-value: 0.028), antenatal clinic visits for last pregnancy (AOR: 4.21, 95% CI: 1.27 – 12.44, P-value: 0.005), number of antenatal clinic visits (AOR: 4.36, 95% CI: 1.32 – 14.10, P-value: 0.041) and place of delivery (AOR: 6.21, 95% CI: 1.17 – 12.05, P-value: 0.013) were the maternal characteristics found to be significantly associated with good neonatal care practice.
Conclusion: In this study, neonatal care practice among post-natal mothers was fairly good. Concerted strategies are required to improve neonatal care practices among post-natal mothers.