ABSTRACTObjective: This study was done to evaluate the knowledge of primary health-care workers about the newborn care components.Methods: The Institutional Ethics Committee approval was obtained, and a cross-sectional study was carried out among the primary health-careworkers of Karaikal using a pretested questionnaire from January 2015 to March 2015. The questionnaire contained questions on various domains ofnewborn care components. The study participants were explained about the study.

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... informed consent was obtained, and the questionnaire wasintroduced to 383 health-care workers. The answered questionnaires were collected and analyzed.Results: A total of 349 participants (192-government employees; 157-private employees) were willing to take part in the study. Most (54.7%) of thegovernment participants were nurses and auxiliary nurse midwives (43.2%) whereas the private sector participants were predominantly (79%)nurses. The knowledge level about some of the newborn care components, namely, positioning and attachment, advice on discharge, time of follow-upcheckup, bad child rearing practices, and danger signs of newborn were assessed to be predominantly inadequate among a majority of health workersof both sectors. 22.29% and 41.1% of the private health-care workers and government health-care workers respectively, were having an overalladequate knowledge (overall score >75%) on newborn care components. Knowledge of the government health workers was significantly better thanprivate health-care staff (P < 0.001).Conclusion: Knowledge is found to be inadequate among health-care workers on some newborn care components which necessitate measures toimprove.Keywords: Newborn care, Nurses, Midwives, Inadequate knowledge, Training programs.