Abstract:

Background: Child development is a fundamental reflection of a child's overall growth and physical maturity. Awareness on child’s developmental milestones is essential for assessing normal development and to identify any delay in development. Only 25% of caretakers in developing countries have a good awareness on developmental milestone of under 3 years children. Studies from different developed countries found that caretaker’s knowledge of child development positively correlated with the improvement of their ability to augment child development

Objective: The aim of this study was to asses caretaker’s awareness on a child’s developmental milestones at Kambarage Health Centre, Shinyanga, Tanzania.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 138 caretakers of under five years children in June and July 2024. Data was collected using structured self-administered questionnaires and information obtained was analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

Result: From the study majority of the participant (94.9%) were female, Age ranged from 18-44, 65.2% were married and the majority (55.1%) had an ordinary level of education where as 47.8% were house wives/husband. 68.54 of caretakers had an average level of awareness of key developmental milestones of children and 74.71% of caretakers had awareness regarding age-appropriate developmental milestones of a child. Regarding caretakers’ misconceptions about their child’s developmental milestones, 50.92% of caretakers had misconceptions about children developmental milestone.
 
Conclusion: Study participants showed an insufficient level of awareness regarding children’s developmental milestones following this result proper education and canceling programs should be emphasized in reproductive and child health clinics so that caretakers can be aware of the basic developmental milestones of their children.