PRACTICE OF THE PREVENTION OF ANAEMIA IN PREGNANCY AMONG WOMEN ATTENDING UGBEKUN PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRE, BENIN CITY, EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

Back ground: Anaemia is a serious global health problem that particularly affects young children and pregnant women in developing countries. Objective: The study assessed the practice of the prevention of anaemia among pregnant women in Ugbekun Primary Health Centre. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive survey design and a convenience sampling technique was used to attain 197 sample size.  A total of 197 pregnant mothers were interviewed by using pretested structured questionnaire. Data was entered and processed in to the computer using SPSS version 21. Results: A total of 197 pregnant women were participated on the study. Among them majority were found to have poor knowledge and majority have good practice respectively regarding prevention of anaemia during pregnancy. Crude and adjusted odds ratio done revealed that unavailability of anaemia drugs, food taboos, attitude of health care workers, ignorance were reported to influence the practice of the prevention of Anaemia. Conclusions: Based on study findings, majority of the pregnant women attending ANC at Ugbekun Primary Health Centre have Poor Knowledge and majority have goodpractices regarding prevention of anaemia during pregnancy. Multiple factors such as unavailability of anaemia drugs, food taboos, and the attitude of health care workers, influenced the practice regarding prevention of anaemia during pregnancy significantly. Therefore, there is a need for Policy makers to better consider those factors contributing in the practice of the prevention of anaemia during pregnancy.