Child survival VIII baseline survey : knowledge and practice survey, Save the Children/Mali

The survey followed the WHO model of 30 clusters of mothers with children under two years of age. A total of 302 mothers were interviewed. The data entry and analysis were done in EPIINFO 5.1. The survey found that almost 96% of mothers breastfed their children for almost 2 years; 58.6% thought that they should give additional food beyond 6 months and 27.2% thought that they should give additional food between 4 and 6 months. In the growth monitoring intervention, 86.5% of the children having a growth monitoring card were weighed at least once in the last 3 months. For the malaria intervention, 69.5% of the mothers whose children had fever in the last 2 weeks gave chloroquine to their children. For diarrhea, 60% of the mothers whose children had diarrhea in the last 2 weeks used oral rehydration therapy. Of the mothers sampled, 57.8% declared that they gave their child more to drink than usual in the case of diarrhea. In the immunization intervention, the fully immunized rate (12�23 months of age) is 41.9%, with a dropout rate (DPT1�DPT3/DPT1) of 47.1%. Of the total mothers interviewed, 70.9% knew that tetanus toxoid vaccination protects the newborn and the mother against tetanus and 75.2% had received at least two TT vaccinations. In the maternal intervention, 41.1% of the mothers made at least two prenatal visits. Among the mothers with a prenatal card 79.5% made at least two visits. The utilization rate of modern contraceptives is 1.0%. Of the mothers sampled, 82.3% declared they were assisted during their delivery by a traditional birth attendant. The overall results of the survey are higher than the national rates, wherever it is possible to compare. (Author abstract)