ARI Literature Review

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

ARI is a major cause of childhood death in Ghana and a public health problem worldwide although it results in more severe conditions in developing countries than developed ones. Several aspects of ARI, ranging from the aetiology, epidemiology, prevention and management have been studied globally. Aetiology studies show that bacterial causes account for about 70% of childhood pneumonia whiles Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a leading viral cause of ARI (Ukwaja and Olufemi, 2010).

ARI is one of the main reasons for hospital attendance and a major cause of death in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia. A number of systematic review and meta-analysis attest to the high burden

Evidence shows that women in higher age groups, unlike younger ones have less possibility of ARI occurrence, among other diseases. This may be due to the knowledge and experience of childcare gained by the older women over time which undoubtedly gives them an advantage over the younger women. In Bangladesh, mother’s age was shown to be significantly related with the prevalence of ARI among children. Children whose mothers were below 20 years had a higher possibility of suffering from ARI. It was noted that teenage mothers may mostly concentrate on their happiness and that of their partners than their child’s health (Azad, 2009). In a cross sectional study in Brazil, Prietsch et al., ( 2008) also found out that maternal age has a protective effect for children. This is especially so for mothers who were older than 30 years at the birth of their

Parental education is one of the factors shown to be associated with the risk of ARI and other childhood infections. Knowledge acquired through education influences the prevention, treatment and management of infections when they occur. ARI is an infection that requires early recognition and use of simple home care as well as early visit to a health care facility and thus education becomes a significant factor. There have been various findings with regards to the relationship between ARI and maternal education. While maternal education is said to have no association with the incidence of ARI from studies done in Uganda, (Bbaale, 2011) and India (Prajapati et.al, 2011) and (Goel et al., 2012), others on the other hand have found a relationship between the two. For instance a study in Nigeria (Ujunwa & Ezeonu, 2014), noted more cases of AURIs among children of well educated women. This was explained to be due to their greater health seeking behaviour compared to the less educated women. A study in Baghdad, on the other hand, documented a significant increase in ARI among children whose mothers had lower levels of education (Al-sharbatti & Aljumaa,