Maternal knowledge on child survival in the poorest areas of North and Northeast Brazil.

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate knowledge on child survival among mothers of children under five years of age living in nine municipalities in North and Northeast Brazil. A standardized question-naire was used for home interviews of mothers vis-ited by volunteers from the Pastorate of the Child and mothers not visited by the program (control areas). The association between independent variables and the outcome (visited versus not vis-ited by the Pastorate of the Child) was evaluated using the chi-square test. Among the 752 mothers studied, 386 were visited by Pastorate of the Child volunteers and 366 were not visited. Mothers vis-ited by the Pastorate of the Child, although poorer, showed better knowledge on monitoring child growth and identifying child development diffi-culties as compared to mothers from the control areas. Despite the better performance of mothers visited by the Pastorate of the Child volunteers, maternal knowledge on child survival in both groups was less than desirable. This hinders the identification of more serious cases, delays seek-ing medical care, and reduces the impact on child morbidity and mortality.Child Development; Child Welfare; Mothers