Knowledge of mothers on prevention of anaemia in children under 5 years of age in the provincial city of Kinshasa, DRC

Abstract

Background: Early management of anaemia remains a major public health issue worldwide. In Kinshasa, DRC, the delay in the management of anaemia is associated with a high mortality rate. Parents' lack of knowledge of the signs of anaemia and inappropriate attitudes have been blamed elsewhere for this delay. The aim of this study was to assess mothers' knowledge of anaemia in children aged 0-59 months in the provincial city of Kinshasa.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 6 health zones of Kinshasa among 639 mothers of children aged 0-59 months selected through multistage sampling. Data collection was done using a pre tested semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire and the data was analysed using SPSS version 24. Ethical approval was obtained from the Protestant University, Congo.
Results: The predominant age group was 20 to 24 years (28.0%), the majority of mothers were married (57.2%) and had completed their secondary education in 61% of cases. Less than half of the children (41.4%) had a history of anaemia at the time of the survey. The majority of mothers (92.9%) had heard about anaemia through various sources of information, including family/friends (72.9%), health professionals (18.05%), television (5.7%), radio (0.7%) and school (2.65%). More than half of the mothers (59.4%) said they had seen publicity about anaemia either at the health centre (64.5%), on television (25.5%) or on the radio (3.0%). Overall the majority of mothers (62.5%) had good knowledge of their child's anaemia. The majority of mothers (92.1%) would bring their child to the health centre in case of anaemia, 18.3% and 16.3% would give iron and iron derivatives respectively.
Conclusion: Anaemia is not an unknown disease among mothers of children under 5 years old in Kinshasa. However, the participation of health personnel in informing them about this disease remains insufficient. This level of knowledge must be improved by community awareness activities.