Abstract:

Background: Sepsis is an important public health problem in terms of maternal morbidity and mortality; it is a major cause of maternal death worldwide. The majority of the predisposing factors are preventable.

Method: A descriptive cross sectional study conducted at Magu Hospital, Kahangara health center and Mwamabanza health centre, the study included post-delivery mothers, data were collected face to face by using structured questionnaire open and closed questions. Data were entered, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 17.0. The results were summarized in frequency tabulation Chi2 were used determine factors associated with knowledge and attitude on prevention of puerperal sepsis.

Results: A total of 130 (56.1%) had poor knowledge and 59 (25.4%) had moderate knowledge on prevention of puerperal sepsis, while 147 (63.4%) have poor perception (attitude) on prevention on puerperal sepsis prevention.

Conclusion: Half of participants have poor knowledge and more than half participants have poor perception on prevention of puerperal sepsis. Factors that significantly associated with knowledge and perception on prevention of puerperal sepsis were age, education level and place of delivery. Only 108 participants had been given health education about prevention of puerperal sepsis. It is important that all post-delivery mothers be given health education about importance of puerperal sepsis prevention.