Abstract:

The health of the mothers and children had improved dramatically during the last three decades through medical advancement and public health measures, leading to dramatic decrease in the global deaths among mothers and children.  Despite these efforts deaths among under five children are high in Nigeria (child mortality rates 128). The study has bearing to UN-SDG 3 which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages and specifically, to achieve reduction of under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1000 live births by 2030. Incidentally the level of health care facility for mothers and children in this region is abysmally leading to poor knowledge of child preventable diseases among mothers. Therefore, the study objective aimed at examining the factors affecting knowledge of child preventable diseases among women visiting government health facility. The study used secondary data from the 2017 Covenant University Public Health and Wellbeing Research Cluster survey on determinants of child morbidity and survival in Ogun State, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were applied on the data obtained from 1350 respondents that constituted the sample size using STATA Version 12. All the factors considered such as  Clean environment and personal hygiene (X² = 7.4324; P = 0.006); Spouse Education (X² = 19.8200; P = 0.001); Spouse Occupation (X² = 23.3014; P = 0.001); Place of Delivery (X² = 18.3293; P = 0.001); Assistance during Delivery (X² = 17.9279; P = 0.001); Time to obtain Treatment for Child at Health Facility (X² = 17. 0761; P = 0.002) and Behavior of Health Workers (X² = 18.8759; P = 0.001)   showed significant relationship with mother’s knowledge of child preventable diseases. The findings suggest that manipulating all the 7 variables will ensure proper knowledge of child preventable diseases which eventually lead to greater survival chances of children in the study area. The study recommends health education, enhanced socio-economic status of both mothers and their spouses and motivation for health workers in the war against reduction in child mortality and survival in the study area and beyond.