Hygiene Practices of Postpartum Mothers in a Rural Ugandan setting:

Abstract

The study was carried out basing on the topic “Hygiene practices of postpartum mothers in a rural Ugandan setting.” It aimed at establishing the Perineal care practices of postpartum mothers, establishing hand hygiene practices of post-partum mothers and assessing the knowledge of postpartum mothers on prevention of puerperal sepsis at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research designs where both questionnaires and interview guides were used to collect data from the field. All data was grouped and analyzed in a statistical way where by data was presented in tables showing frequencies and percentages. The following results were obtained basing on the study findings; The perineal care practices of postpartum mothers included; mothers bath 3 times a day, use lukewarm water to clean the perineal area, use local herbs to clean the perineal area, use soft facial tissues, sanitary pads and clean cotton cloths to pad themselves. The Hand hygiene practices of postpartum mothers included use of soap and water to wash their hands, obtained water for washing their hands from the nearby wells and also washed their hands by use of water and soap to kill germs. Also mothers had knowledge on how to prevent puerperal sepsis through maintaining hand hygiene practices, through use of clean delivery kits among others. The researcher recommends that; there is need for sensitization of the rural mothers on the causes and effects of puerperal sepsis, need for government intervention through placing required medicine in rural referral hospitals, training of the Traditional Birth attendants on the appropriate hand hygiene practice and allocation of enough funds on the national budget to build enough hospitals to cater for mothers in rural areas.