Knowledge of Helping Babies Breathe Programme and the Determinants among Trainees in Edo State.

Background: Neonatal deaths contribute up to 32% of early childhood deaths in Nigeria. Most neonatal deaths (75%) occur during the first week of life. Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) programme is an intervention launched in 2010 by The American Academy of Paediatrics and found to be effective in reducing neonatal mortality by 47%. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of HBB training programme and their determinants among Health Care Workers (HCWs) attending a training programme in Benin City.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study involving 134 HCWs attending a HBB training programme in Edo State. A standardized questionnaire was used to assess knowledge of trainees prior to and at post-training. Chi-square and binary logistic regression were used to test association and identify determinants of HBB knowledge.

Results: A total of 134 trainees participated in the study. The majority of The HCWs (62.7%) had good knowledge. Following training, all HCWs (100%) had good knowledge of HBB training Programme. Job title/Profession (p=0.007) and qualification (p=0.030) of HCWs were significant determinants of knowledge of HBB. However, after controlling for confounders; Job title was the only significant determinant of knowledge of HBB (OR: 0.603; p=0.014; CI:0.403-0.902), with medical officers more likely to have good knowledge, compared to other HCWs, including paediatric resident doctors. Community health extension workers and nurse assistants had very poor knowledge compared to other HCWs.

Conclusion: Job title was the only significant determinant of knowledge of HBB, as doctors working as medical officers are more likely to have good knowledge than other HCWs, including paediatric resident doctors. Community health extension workers and nurse assistants had very poor knowledge compared to other HCWs.