Authors: Margaret Omowaleola AKINWAARE, Chinyere Nneamaka OGUEZE, Joel Ojo ALUKO.
Anemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among pregnant women in developing countries like Nigeria. The burden and predisposing factors varies even within countries. It is one of the potential lethal complications of pregnancy leading to large number of maternal and fetal death. However, it is preventable and curable. The aim of this study was to find out the preventive measures and knowledge of anemia in pregnancy among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Ibadan.
The study utilized the use of non-experimental cross sectional type of descriptive survey and a convenient sampling technique was used to select 384 participants. Data were obtained using a self- administered questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0, p ≥ 0.05 significant level.
The results of the study unveiled majority 282 (73.4%) of the respondents have adequate knowledge of anemia in pregnancy. Majority 242 (63%) of the respondents adopt use of iron supplements and folic acid as a preventive measure against anemia in pregnancy. However, a large percentage (79.9%) of them avoid eating culturally forbidden foods rich in iron. Also, a good proportion 252 (62%) of the respondents have good perception on anemia in pregnancy. The findings based on the hypothesis revealed a significant association between respondents’ antenatal clinic attendance and knowledge of preventive measures of anemia in pregnancy.
It was concluded that pregnant women’s knowledge of preventive measures against anemia in pregnancy is paramount to healthy life in pregnancy and good pregnancy outcome.
View/Download pdf