Impact of training on awareness and Knowledge of Birth Defects among Community Health Workers in tribal district of Maharashtra, India.

Objective: Early identification, referrals and timely treatment is crucial to improve the outcome of Birth Defects (BDs). The role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in India is largely fulfilled by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) who can play an important role in community-based reporting and referrals of BDs in newborn. In the study area, ASHAs have been previously trained for identification of BDs under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK); however, reporting through them was found to be sub-optimal.

Methods: To strengthen the community based reporting of BDs through ASHAs, audio visual based training was provided to 1225 ASHAs in 6 tribal blocks of Palghar district in Maharashtra, India. The change in knowledge about BDs before and after training among 1023 participants was analyzed using paired sample t test & McNemar test.

Results: Findings reveal a significant increase in the knowledge of participants with regards to prevention, risk factors and identification of BDs after intervention as compared to before intervention.

Discussion: The study suggests that audio-visual based refresher training increased knowledge of ASHAs with respect to identification, prevention and risk factors of BDs which may eventually improve reporting and referrals of BDs at community level.