Knowledge of under five children's mothers regarding the six killer diseases

• Published in: Asian Journal of Nursing Education and Research 2018, Vol.8 (1), p.159-162
• Main Authors: Sharma, Minu, Kaur, Gurpreet, Pun, Jhag Devi, Shukla, Jyoti, Thakur, Lalita, Sharma, Monika, Mandip, Kaur, Manpreet, Sonowal, Mary, Kaur, Manjot, Gupta, Rupashree Das
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child care; Child Development; Childrens health; Infant mortality; Knowledge; Measles; Mothers; Nursing education; Pediatrics; Poliomyelitis; Research Methodology; Tetanus; Tuberculosis; Whooping cough; Young Children
• ISSN: 2231-1149; 2349-2996
• DOI: 10.5958/2349-2996.2018.00033.2

With every little baby's birth God sends his love and joy to earth. Children are the delicate flower who wilts away before they bloom due to the life threatening diseases. In India nearly 40% of the population constitutes of children. The promotion of healthy child development has become a major focus of world attention over the last three to four decades. A lot of researches need to be conducted concerning the children especially for the under five children as the mortality and morbidity rates are higher in this age group, which may enable us to have a better and clear understanding of the issues concerning children, and how to deal with them effectively. India is a country still having the highest infant mortality rate among all the countries in the world especially due to the six killer diseases. The leading cause behind this is the unawareness and ignorance among the mothers regarding six killer diseases. The outcomes of these six diseases viz. diphtheria pertussis, tuberculosis, measles, tetanus, polio makes the child handicapped not only at their initial stages of their growth and development but also has a long term deleterious effect in their adulthood and later on. As per the WHO news bulletin (2004), through vaccination and imparting knowledge to under five childrens' mothers many under five deaths were prevented. It was estimated that 2,94,000 deaths occurred due to pertussis, 4000 deaths from diptheria and as many as 27 million children did not receive the third dose of DPT. Lack of knowledge is the greatest barrier to any improvement in the health conditions. Mothers' knowledge even within the same socioeconomic class is a key determinant of their child's health. Henceforth extensive evidence showed that maternal knowledge plays a major role in the decline of infant and child mortality. Here the nurses are in a better position to guide these mothers. Keeping this in view a study was undertaken to assess their level regarding the awareness and knowledge of six killer diseases to gather the baseline information and data so that necessary steps can be taken to educate and spread awareness among them for a better future and safe childhood with an equally improved beginning of life. The findings of the research project would contribute towards producing data related to the ignorance and unawareness of under five childrens' mothers regarding the six killer diseases which can be of further help to the young researchers in future to formulate an educa