Assessment of Knowledge On The Maternal & Child Health Handbook (MCH) Contents Among Pregnant Women In Selected Health Facilities at Northern Districts, Bangladesh

Despite provision of many health services by public healthcare facilities including availability of qualified healthcare professionals, and free diagnostic and treatment services, the Maternal & Infant Mortality Rates (MMR & IMR) in Northern Bangladesh remain high. An important reason for the enduring high rates is lack of health literacy among pregnant women and their families. Existing hospital-based health-record tools in Northern Bangladesh do not contain sufficient information and thus have not been very helpful in reducing the MMR & IMR so far. Significant information can be provided to the pregnant women, their families & the healthcare professionals by using the Maternal & Child Health (MCH) Handbook. The Handbook documents personalized home & facility-based health records of the mother and the child, including information pertaining to pregnancy, delivery, postnatal period, immunizations & growth monitoring etc. This information enhances healthcare workers' ability to provide appropriate patient care, by referencing their well-documented records. Furthermore, the Handbook equips patients and health professionals with detailed medical histories, rendering both parties better suited to respond to emergency situations. This will significantly improve the healthcare of the mother & the child, which would ultimately lead to decreased MMR & IMR. Developing such a handbook requires assessment of the prior level of health literacy of women and their families, in terms of maternal & child-health. A handbook was then developed based on the knowledge assessment results. For example, the data revealed that the people lacked information on when and what vaccine their child needed, and thus vaccination schedules were included in the MCH Handbook. Healthcare workers, community leaders and other stakeholders were involved during the entire process. The MCH Handbook was thus developed to increase awareness related to maternal and childcare that would contribute to better health outcomes leading to a decrease in Maternal & Infant Mortality Rates (MMR & IMR)