Patterns of Perception of Causes and Prevalence of Anaemia at Booking in Tropical General Hospital

Abstract

The main contributor to high maternal mortality in Nigeria is anaemia in pregnancy which can be prevented. Descriptive cross sectional study. Total sampling was done. Consecutive pregnant women presenting at the antenatal clinic, state hospital, Osogbo were requested to complete an interviewer administered questionnaire determining the awareness of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic on common causes of anaemia. Data was analyzed with SPSS v 11. One hundred and sixty seven (100%) pregnant women completed the questionnaire. Mean age of the respondents was 29.0 ±4.8 years. Nearly all (98.2%) were married. Most (97.6%) completed primary education. Majority (44.9%) of the respondents were traders. Majority of their husbands were traders (38%), civil servants (24.6%), and artisans (22.8%). Over half 56.4% had 1-4 children while 2.4% had 5-6 children. Two-fifth (41.3%) were primigravida. Most (78.4%) clients have heard of hookworms while more than half (53.3%) knew its mode of transmission and 33.5% knew its prevention. Majority (73.1%) of the clients knew that sickle cell disease can be inherited while 73.7% knew that marriage counseling can prevent sickle cell disease. Nearly all clients (98.2%) knew their genotype while 33.5% do not know their husband/partner genotype. None of the clients with children had checked the genotype of their children. Most 61.7% eat balanced diet everyday. Over one-third (32.3%) of the clients had moderate anaemia. A significant number of respondents had poor knowledge to causes of anaemia in this environment. More public enlightenment need to be carried out on this very important topic to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality from anaemia in pregnancy.

Key words: knowledge; pregnant women; anaemia; maternal mortality