Awareness of Pregnant Women about Anemia During Pregnancy

Anemia during pregnancy is considered a serious and unique health problem especially in developing countries where the intake of iron and folic acid rich food is minimal. The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness of pregnant women about anemia during pregnancy and it is as a base for building educational program about anemia during pregnancy and effect of this education on outcome of pregnancy.

This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at Brayati primary health care center from 15th December 2016 to 15^th March 2017. After obtaining verbal consent a special designed questionnaire used for collection information from 100 pregnant women attending to antenatal care unit in addition to data from antenatal cards of pregnant women. packed cell volume (PCV) is used for estimation of hemoglobin and any pregnant women with hemoglobin level of <11 gm/dl are considered to be anemic. The data was entered in Statistical Package for Science Services (SPSS version 20)and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistic.

This study result revealed the rate of anemia among pregnant women was 52%and 39% of them had mild anemia. the level of awareness was poor for signs and symptoms, reason for taking supplement, food that prevent from anemia, cause and consequence of anemia during pregnancy. there was no statistically significant association between socio-demographic characteristic and anemia during pregnancy.

The study subject had poor awareness about anemia during pregnancy and awareness of pregnant women should be increased through appropriate nutritional educational program during antenatal visits.