HEALTH EDUCATION ON NEONATAL SCREENING IN EARLY DETECTION OF CONGENITAL DEFECTS

Abstrak

Infant mortality rate (IMR) is an important parameter for evaluating health in the community. Congenital abnormalities are one of the main factors that cause infant mortality in Indonesia. Neonatal screening is done to detect congenital abnormalities in neonatals early in order to improve neonatal health. Neonatal screening is an activity in which a health worker assesses the baby's body to find indications of disease, and the results are recorded in a medical record. Research shows that half of infant deaths occur during the neonatal period in the first month of life. Improper handling of the baby can result in disability or death, and hypothermia is the most common symptom in infants. Therefore, it is very important to understand and carry out health checks on babies, especially for early intervention if there are problems or abnormalities. Therefore, there needs to be an effort to increase public awareness through health education so that mothers ' knowledge about the physical examination of babies after birth becomes better. This community service activity was carried out to increase the knowledge of all mothers who have babies aged 0-12 years in Air Joman Kisaran village about the importance of neonatal screening. This community service activity was carried out in Air Joman Kisaran village with a lecture and discussion method followed by 42 mothers who have babies aged 0-12 months. Evaluation using pre-test and post-test questionnaires showed a significant increase in knowledge from an average score of 60.2 to 85.9 (p=0.005). These results indicate that health education is effective in increasing the knowledge of mothers who have babies aged 0-12 years about the relationship of neonatal screening with early detection of congenital abnormalities. It is recommended that health workers who are in the Working Area of Desa Air Joman Kisaran carry out health education to the community, especially mothers who have babies aged 0-12 months and involve the role of families, especially husbands, in providing support in conducting neonatal screening examinations, so as to increase access to information through local media and health cadres in Desa Air Joman in order to improve neonatal health from an early age.