Assessment of awareness regarding obstetric and newborn danger signs among pregnant women and recently delivered mothers in urban slums of Raipur city, Chhattisgarh

Background: Knowledge regarding danger signs has been found helpful to reduce delays in seeking, reaching and obtaining care during obstetric emergencies. Aims & Objectives: To assess the awareness regarding obstetric and newborn danger signs among pregnant and recently delivered mothers residing in urban slums of Raipur city. Material & Methods: Observational study was conducted among 160 pregnant and 70 recently delivered women residing in urban slums. The assessment of awareness regarding danger signs was done by adding the marks obtained in various phases. Appropriate statistical tests were applied for any association between knowledge score and socio-demographic variables. Results: Subjects knowing at least one key danger sign during pregnancy, labour, postpartum and newborn period was 54.3%, 51.9%, 7.4%, and 11.3 % respectively. Those with age more than 20 years (p value 0.000), joint family (p value 0.000), educated more than 5 years (p value 0.009), and having married and getting first time pregnant after 20 years (p values 0.001 and 0.022 respectively) were found to have significantly more knowledge about danger signs. Conclusions: Knowledge regarding danger signs should be given at the time of every ANC visit and also at follow up visit after delivery.