Introduction: Acute respiratory infection remain a common cause of morbidity and fatality, influencing children mainly. 16% of Pakistani children become victim of it and 4 million children die due to it annually. It usually triumphant in urban areas. To know the ARI related concept of mother it is very important to enhance the quality of life because domestic care impacts greatly upon fitness of child. The capability to decipher the standard perception of the mother in terms of the basis treatment of the disease is a considerable foundation for rational health interventions. However the involved facts about the faith and sports allied to infant of ARI is finite.
Methods: Data was collected through interview based questionnaire from October to December at Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi. The study population included mothers of children aged under 5 years who visited the pediatrics OPD and ward in this duration for any medical problem. Mothers of children with chronic illness or congenital anomalies were also excluded from the study. Data was entered and analyzed by SPSS 24 to examine the association between knowledge, attitude and practice of mother regarding acute respiratory infection
Results: A response rate of 95% was obtain with 40.8% were males. Almost an equal number of individuals (71.4%) participants from the urban area and [28.8%] from the rural area. Public /media [47.8%] and friends/relatives [47.8%] found to be the main source of knowledge. Also micro-organism [43.1%] and air born disease [49.1%] found to be the main contributing factor. Majority [45.1%] knew that winter can worsen the situation. [20.8%] people marking pneumonia to be the greatest complication. More than half population [61.4%] thinks that delivery at hospital reduces the risk of ARI. Environmental factor has not shown any significant association (p=0.211) with knowledge of mother. When alarming signs was compare all show i.e. fast breathing (p=0.001), noisy breathing (p=0.001) show statically significant association. Gender specific analysis revealed no significant finding.
Conclusion: This study disclosed insufficient knowledge of mothers regarding the symptoms of ARI, environmental influence on ARI, aggravating factors and convolutions. Their perspective towards ARI was suitable however the practices being followed were not. Good literacy rate showed to have more constructive impact on the knowledge, attitude and practices of mothers. Thus, the national ARI control program in Pakistan should consider these findings when developing ARI policy. There is also the need for research on the efficacy and any possible adverse effects of identified home remedies.
