DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i03.063

Pages: 1049-1055

Newborn health is a foundation of child health and adult health. If proper care is not given to the mother right from conception till the neonatal period, the newborn suffers from various morbidities. The socio demographic factors and antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care are important determinants of neonatal morbidity. The present study was conducted with the objective to determine the prevalance of neonatal morbidity and its associated factors in a rural area of Dibrugarh district, Assam. A Community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 257 infants upto 6 months in a rural area of Dibrugarh district, from August 2013 to July 2014. Data was collected by interviewing the mothers of the infants using a pre-designed and pre-tested proforma. The prevalence of neonatal morbidity was found to be 41.6%. The most common morbidity was cough/difficult breathing (15.2%) followed by fever (10.5%) and diarrhea (8.2%).Neonatal morbidity was significantly associated with birth order, pre-lacteal feeding, education, occupation and number of antenatal visits by the mother. There is a need to focus on BCC activities to promote female literacy and empowerment and to adopt correct breastfeeding practices to reduce the burden of neonatal morbidity in rural areas.