Health behaviour of rural mothers to acute respiratory infections in children in Gondar, Ethiopia.

One hundred and thirty two mothers in a rural area were interviewed to determine how they recognize pneumonia and what type of treatment they propose for pneumonia and mild ARI. Most mothers recognized pneumonia by grunting fast breathing and high fever, but only 35.6% of them propose taking these children to the health centre. Health damaging traditional practices particularly for mild ARI are widespread. Information regarding prevailing beliefs and practices in childhood ARI have a policy implication in the formulation of health education strategy for ARI control.