CROSS SECTIONAL ANALYTIC STUDY OF AWARENESS REGARDING FACTORS RELATED TO CHILD SURVIVAL AMONG MARRIED WOMEN IN A SEMI-URBAN COMMUNITY

A cross sectional analytic study was undertaken on 480 married women living in a semi-urban locality in Pune, with the objective of assessing their awareness regarding factors related to child survival. It was observed that 62.1 per cent of the ladies had adequate knowledge about immunisation. A highly significant trend was evident as regards knowledge about immunisation and formal education and socio-economic status (p<0.01). 93 per cent ladies initiated breast feeding within 24 hours of birth of the new born. Significantly larger proportion of ladies from lower education favoured prolonged breast feeding (p<0.001) and favoured late introduction of top milk (p<0.001). In general, the awareness about growth chart was very poor with only 3.5 per cent ladies having adequate knowledge. Larger family size was significantly associated with declining probability of use of oral rehydration solution (ORS). Certain recommendations for improving the awareness regarding child survival have been submitted accordingly.KEYWORDS: Child survival, Health awareness