Factors associated with early newborn care practices in Bangladesh: evidence from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey

Aim: Immediate care of newborns is essential to scale back the mortality rate. This study tries to search out several aspects of newborn care practices of newborn birth from BDHS 2017-18 data.

Methods: Initially, bivariate analysis is employed to look at the differentials' initial newborn care practices by several selected background variables. The study used a simple and multinomial logistic regression model to identify the important determinants of initial care practices. Besides determinates of the factor, the study also compares the results with the cross-sectional survey data of 2014 and 2011.

Results: The percentage of employing a clean delivery kit during delivery and skin-to-skin contact are 22.8 and 13.7 respectively in Bangladesh in 2017 which is lower than the previous report in 2014. The odds of clean delivery kits and skin-to-skin are higher for educated mothers (OR = 3.30 and OR = 1.74) and in the case of delayed bathing the odds of the Rangpur division (OR = 1.90) are more likely higher compared to the reference category. Besides, the odds of a mother's age above 25 and birth order 3+ are less likely to reference the category for newborn care practices.

Conclusion: Factors identified in early newborn care practices will not only help policy makers undertake a series of interventions for improved newborn health but also ensure good -quality health services.