Background: The status of menââ?¬â?¢s knowledge of and awareness to maternal, neonatal and child health care are\r\nlargely unknown in Bangladesh and the effect of community focused interventions in improving menââ?¬â?¢s knowledge\r\nis largely unexplored. This study identifies the extent of menââ?¬â?¢s knowledge and awareness on maternal, neonatal and\r\nchild health issues between intervention and control groups.\r\nMethods: This cross sectional comparative study was carried out in six rural districts of Bangladesh in 2008. BRAC\r\nhealth programme operates ââ?¬Ë?improving maternal, neonatal and child survivalââ?¬â?¢ intervention in four of the abovementioned\r\nsix districts. The intervention comprises a number of components including improving awareness of\r\nfamily planning, identification of pregnancy, providing antenatal, delivery and postnatal care, newborn care, under-5\r\nchild healthcare, referral of complications and improving clinical management in health facilities. In addition,\r\ncommunities are empowered through social mobilization and advocacy on best practices in maternal, neonatal and\r\nchild health. Three groups were identified: intervention (2 years exposure); transitional (6 months exposure) and\r\ncontrol. Data were collected by interviewing 7,200 men using a structured questionnaire.\r\nResults: Men prefer to gather in informal sites to interact socially. Overall menââ?¬â?¢s knowledge on maternal care was\r\nhigher in intervention than control groups, for example, advice on tetanus injection should be given during\r\nantenatal care (intervention = 50%, control = 7%). There were low levels of knowledge about birth preparedness\r\n(buying delivery kit = 18%, arranging emergency transport = 13%) and newborn care (wrapping = 25%, cord cutting\r\nwith sterile blade = 36%, cord tying with sterile thread = 11%) in the intervention. Men reported joint\r\ndecision-making for delivery care relatively frequently (intervention = 66%, control = 46%, p < 0.001).\r\nConclusion: Improvement in menââ?¬â?¢s knowledge in intervention district is likely. Emphasis of behaviour change\r\ncommunications messages should be placed on birth preparedness for clean delivery and referral and on newborn\r\ncare. These messages may be best directed to men by targeting informal meeting places like market places and tea\r\nstalls.
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