Evaluation of a NewlyEstablished Well Baby Clinic in a Rural Area in Egypt

Abstract

Every year approximately 10 million children under 5 years of age die throughout the world, mostly in developing countries. Of every 1000 children born in sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 170 die, compared with less than 10 of those who are born in developed countries. The fourth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce child and infant mortality in the world by two-thirds by 2015, yet current estimates suggest that at least 44 developing countries have less than a 20% chance of achieving the goal. An understanding of the risk factors associated with child mortality and the design of appropriate interventions are urgently required (WHO, 2016). Giving every child the best start in life is crucial to reducing health inequalities across the life course. The foundations for virtually every aspect of human development-physical, intellectual and emotional are laid in early childhood. What happens during these early years has long effects on many aspects of health and well-being (NHS, 2013).

Objectives: 1. To identify obstacles against utilization of a well baby clinic service. 2. Evaluate a newly established well baby clinic in term of attendance rate and job performance This interventional study was conducted through 4 phases: Phase I: Baseline assessment: It included (a) Estimation of Rates attendance of Children < 5 years to well-baby clinic (Before and After Intervention); (b) Assessment of the quality of the registered data (Before and After Intervention), (c) Assessment of well baby clinic nurse performance (before and after intervention); (d) Assessment of infrastructure of well-baby clinic (before and after intervention); (e) Determining the awareness of mothers attending the family health centre regarding the well baby clinic service and its importance (before and after intervention). Phase II: Preparatory phase; and it included the following: (a) Establishing the structure of the clinic, (b) Organization of the children heath records in the form of: Paper records and Electronic records, (c) Designing and implementation of a training program for the nurse in charge, Data entry officer and mothers attending the family health centre before starting the new well baby clinic service, (d) Development of well-baby clinic follow up card containing child identification data and scheduled data. Phase III is the Implementation phase during which the new well baby clinic service was lunched; while Phase IV included Evaluation and monitoring The current study recommendations are directed to mothers, health care team and health facility