Study to assess the home-based newborn care (HBNC) visit in rural area of Lucknow: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Home-based newborn care (HBNC) is a strategy adopted by government of India to overcome the burden of newborn deaths in the first week of life, it provides continuum of care for newborn and post-natal mothers. HBNC introduced since 2011 is centred around Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and it is the main community-based approach to newborn health. Aims and Objectives: The objective of the present study was to assess the HBNC during HBNC visit in rural area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (U.P.). Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out in the field practice area of Primary Health Centre Sarojini Nagar, Lucknow UP. A total of 200 mothers of newborn (age 03 days to 60 days) born in the catchment area of PHC Sarojini Nagar during 8 months period were included in cross-sectional study. Results: The result of study showed that majority of newborns got all the age appropriate home visit. None of the mothers had knowledge and awareness about the HBNC provision for home visits and the number of home visit by ASHA decreases as age of baby increases. All the ASHAs were aware about the schedule of home visit, the number of home visit in case of home delivery and institutional delivery. Conclusion and Recommendation: ASHA was found to be the major facilitator for HBNC programme. Knowledge and awareness of ASHA on importance of postnatal care needs to be enhanced via hands on training.