Publications

Abstract

The Community-Based Newborn Care program is a community level newborn care package within Ethiopia’s maternal and newborn health continuum. This evaluation assesses the process of the Community-Based Newborn Care program in Tach Armachiho district, Northwest Ethiopia. A community-based case study with mixed approaches was used to assess the community-based newborn care program. A total of 33 indicators related to acceptability, compliance, and availability were evaluated. Data from 344 mothers were analyzed in Stata using bi- and multivariable logistic regression to find the variables associated with mothers’ satisfaction with a significance level of p < .05. Manual transcription, translation, coding, and analysis were done for qualitative data. Overall program performance was evaluated against predetermined standards. The community-based newborn care program achieved an overall implementation rate of 65.35%, with 69% resource availability, 65.8% compliance, and 61.7% caregiver satisfaction. Caregiver satisfaction was significantly associated with maternal education and the timing of the newborn’s first visit: mothers who could read and write were nearly five times more satisfied than mothers who couldn’t (AOR = 4.79, 95% CI: [1.23–18.66]), while those whose newborns were seen after 14 days were 80% less satisfied than those whose newborns were seen within 1 to 3 days of birth (AOR = 0.2, 95% CI: [0.05–0.9]). The overall implementation of the community-based infant care program, and each assessed dimension, was graded fair, indicating the need for improvement. Mothers’ satisfaction was significantly related to their education level and the time of their newborn’s first visit.