Several middle- to low-income countries experience deaths from acute respiratory infections (ARI) at a very high rate, reaching 4 million people per year. In Indonesia, acute respiratory infections (ARI) remain a serious health problem, with Papua recording the highest prevalence (8.5% in 2023), far above the national average (5.1%). Several factors that influence the incidence of ARI include awareness of the disease and proper treatment. When ARI occurs in toddlers, the most important parties are their parents, especially the mother, as the child's primary caregiver. This study aimed to investigate the influence of mothers’ knowledge and behaviour regarding ARI on the incidence of ARI in toddlers in the working area of the Abepura Community Health Center, Papua. This research was conducted using a questionnaire instrument consisting of an informed consent section, respondent personal data, knowledge of ARI and attitudes towards ARI. The result showed demographic data of respondents and the incidence of ARI had no relation with mothers’ knowledge and behaviour about ARI and the treatment (indicated by the significance value > 0.05). The absence of this relationship may be influenced by the heterogeneous number of samples per category, and the perceptions and respondents’ personal conditions.
Fernanda et al. (Sat,) studied this question.