Cord infections are still more prevalent in many parts of Nigeria due to the high rates of unhygienic cord care practices and low rate of involvement of doctors in health education of care givers on new born care practices, a new study has said.

In a cross-sectional study carried out amongst 221 mothers attending three primary health care facilities with their infants in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, experts found that despite World Health Organsiation(WHO) recommendation on cord care to reduce morbidity and mortality amongst the newborns, there was still a high rate of use of potentially harmful substances for cord care.

The researchers found that 29 per cent of  mothers had their babies cords cleaned with Methylated spirit alone while 62.4 per cent cleaned with Methylated spirit and then applied other substances, including antibiotic ointments and herbs. In addition, cord care was done by grandmothers in 48.4 per cent and mothers in 40.3 per cent of babies.

The use of methylated spirit is in keeping with the Nigerian protocol, which supports its use for cleaning the cord and keeping it dry afterwards as well as the current WHO’s recommendation for developing countries for use of antiseptics when harmful, unhygienic, traditional practices place newborns at increased risk for infections.

Although maternal education, social class of parents and place of delivery were significantly associated with application of potentially harmful substances to the cord, the study indicated that cord problems were reported in 19.0 per cent of babies.

They pointed out the need for targeting grandmothers with health education to improve new born and maternal care practices in the country.

The 2012 study was published in the January edition of the International Journal of Clinical Medicine. It was carried out by Peace Ibo Opara, Tamunopriye Jaja and Balafama Abinye Alex-Hart all from the  University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt in collaboration with Doris Atibi Dotimi from the School of Health Technology, Ogbia.

Cord care practices directly contribute to infections in the newborn, which account for a large proportion of the four million annual global neonatal deaths.

Some of these practices which have been reported especially in the rural areas, include the use of traditional cord dressings like cow dung, herbal preparations, ash, mud, coconut oil etc which are usually contaminated and serve as sources of infection.

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