Newborn cord care practices amongst mothers in Makurdi, Benue State Nigeria

Background: Omphalitis is a neonatal infection resulting from unhygienic care of the umbilical cord.In 2014, the World Health Organization issued a new recommendation; the application Of daily Chlorhexidine gel to the umbilical stump. The aim of this study was to determine cord care practices common amongst mothers in Makurdi Local Government area of Benue State in North Central Nigeria.\r\nMethodology: The study was a cross-sectional study carried out at the well-baby Immunization Clinic of the Benue State University Teaching hospital (BSUTH) and the Immunization Clinic at the Epidemiology unit of the Benue State Ministry of Health both in Makurdi Local Government area of Benue State from April to July 2018.Subjects were mothers presenting with their babies at these clinics during the study period. Information was collected using a structured intervieweradministered questionnaire.\r\nResults: Three hundred and ninetyeight mother-infant pairs participated in this study. Of the infants the males were 205 (51.5%) while the females were 193 (48.5%); they were aged 1-16 days with mean age of 4.29±2.37 days. Two hundred and seventy-two (68.3%) mothers had their babies’ cords cleaned with methylated spirit alone while 11 (2.8%) cleaned with methylated spirit and another substance. The commonest substance applied to cord after cleaning was Vaseline 58(14.6%).\r\nConclusion: The use of methylated spirit for cord care is high among mothers in Makurdi, the uptake of Chlorhexidine as recommended by WHO is significantly very low and this calls for more concerted efforts in educating mothers about the use of Chlorhexidine for cord care.\r\nKey words: Chlorhexidine, Cord care, Mothers, Newborn, Practices,