Knowledge and Practices of Women Health Developmental Army Leaders in Maternal and New-born Care in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia: A Community- Based Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Women Health Developmental Army Leaders (WHDALs) assume the responsibility of coordinating the activities of one to five networks comprising voluntary women. Their primary objective is to facilitate the promotion of disease prevention and control, with a particular focus on maternal and newborn healthcare, within the rural areas of Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent of knowledge and adherence to practices among the WHDALs operating within the Jimma Zone, located in the Southwest region of Ethiopia. Methods: A community -based cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected WHDALs. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used, respectively, to summarize data and identify significantly associated factors with maternal and newborn health services knowledge and practices of the WHDALs at the Pvalue <= 0.05 cut-off point. Results : A total of 784 (98.0% response rate) WHDALs participated in this study. Overall knowledge and adequate practices of newborn and maternal health care among the WHDALs were 50.1% and 54.0%, respectively. WHDALs who read/write (ARO = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.25), who attended formal education (ARO = 3.25; 95% CI: 1.55, 7.99), and younger WHDALs (< 25 years) had better knowledge of maternal and newborn health care compared to their counterparts. Similarly, possession of radio (AOR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.82) and having adequate knowledge (AOR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.25, 2.21) were significantly associated with the maternal and newborn healthcare practices of the WHDALs. Conclusions: The knowledge and practices of the WHDALs were found to be low. Considering radio for health behavioral change communication, recruiting younger and more educated women in the WHDALs can improve their knowledge and practices and better involve them in maternal and newborn healthcare activities. [ Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2023; 37(4): 00-00]