Stunting Amongst Pakistani Children Under Five: Status of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Health Care Workers at Basic Health Units and Rural Health Centers in Raiwind, Lahore.

Abstract

Background: One of the major public health problem amongst children of Pakistan is lack of proper nutrition. Health care workers (HCWs) at primary level have a pivotal role in promoting good nutrition.

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of health care workers regarding stunting in under five children, at Basic Health Units and Rural Health Centers of Raiwind, Lahore.

Methodology: Cross-sectional descriptive study including all HCWs (15 doctors and 15 nurses) in the selected 3 Rural Health Centers (RHC) and 9 Basic Health Units (BHU) in Raiwind, Lahore, from March 2019 to March 2020. A structured questionnaire was used for assessing Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of HCWs regarding stunting in children under- five. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data, P-values (p ≤ 0.05) were considered to see if the difference is statistically significant between doctors and nurses.

Results:  The HCWs’ mean percent score of doctors versus nurses, for knowledge related to major childhood illnesses was 48±22 vs 46±21, common nutritional problems 35±19 vs 26±16, and nutritional assessment methods 22±12 vs 42±23, in children under 5 years was found to be suboptimal. Total mean percent score for HCW ‘practices regarding health education of mothers was below 50 i-e 46±16 vs 40±18 in doctors vs nurses. The practice regarding breast feeding was higher 65±20 in nurses. All the doctors and 11 (73%) nurses reported correct practice regarding iron and folic acid supplementation to pregnant mothers.

Conclusion: Despite having positive attitude towards stunting, HCWs’ had suboptimal knowledge and practice score in most of the items.