AWARENESS OF VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENTATION AMONG MOTHERS OF UNDER–FIVE CHILDREN IN SELECTED URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

Celastin Susan; Shashidhara Y.N.; NamiRia Kurian

Volume : III, Issue : XII, December - 2014

AWARENESS OF VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENTATION AMONG MOTHERS OF UNDER–FIVE CHILDREN IN SELECTED URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

Celastin Susan, Shashidhara Y. N. , Namiria Kurian

Abstract :

Introduction :Vitamin A supplementation is one of the effective strategy to prevent Vitamin A deficiency among under-five children. Public healths sectors are actively participating in implementation of this National Health programme, where as majority of under-five mothers are not aware of this scheme. Objectives: • toassess the awareness regarding Vitamin A supplementation among mothers of under-five children in urban and rural areas, • to compare the awareness of mothers regarding Vitamin A supplementation in urban and rural areas, • tofind the association between awareness regarding Vitamin A supplementation and selected demographic variables. Materials and Methods: A descriptive comparative design was used to compare the awareness of Vitamin A supplementation among mothers of under-five children in selected urban and rural areas by administering structured knowledge questionnaire. SPSS 16.0 software was used for data analysis. Results:It is found in the study that there is no significant difference in the mean (p>0.05) awareness scores of Vitamin A supplementation in urban and rural areas and awareness was found more in rural area. There is significant association between awareness and selected variable like aware about Vitamin A supplementation (x2 =17.43, p<0.05). Conclusion: Educating public regarding Government facility and its utilization is important strategy to raise awareness as well as improve the effectiveness of the programme.