Abstract
BackgroundAnaemia among pregnant women and post-partum mothers is a public health challenge in Ghana, especially in the Volta Region. While literature abounds on anaemia among pregnant women, the same cannot be said for anaemia among post-partum mothers in the region. This study, therefore, examined the prevalence and associated risk factors of anaemia among women attending antenatal care and post-natal care.MethodsThis descriptive cross-sectional survey recruited 409 pregnant women and 194 post-natal mothers attending antenatal and post-natal care, at the Hohoe Municipal Hospital. Background characteristics were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire, blood samples were analysed for the presence of anaemia and malaria parasitaemia and folders were reviewed for estimated blood loss.ResultsWe found the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women and post-partum mothers to be 33 and 16% respectively. Higher malaria parasitaemia (2%) was found in pregnant women compared with postpartum mothers (1%). We found that 4% of post-partum mothers had abnormal blood loss (301mls-500mls) whereas 5% of them had postpartum haemorrhage (>500mls) during child birth. A univariate logistics regression of anaemia status on some risk factors in pregnant women showed no significant association between anaemia and any of the risk factors. Among post-partum mothers, only mothers’ age was statistically significant in the univariate analysis [COR = 0.27 (95% CI:0.103, 0.72);0.008]. Mothers aged 20–29 were 73% less likely to be anaemic.ConclusionThe prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women found in this study points to a situation of moderate public health problem according to WHO cut-off values for the public health significance of anaemia. Strategies should therefore be put in place to encourage thorough health education and promotion programmes among both pregnant and post-partum women.
Highlights
Anaemia among pregnant women and post-partum mothers is a public health challenge in Ghana, especially in the Volta Region
This study examined the prevalence of anaemia and its risk factors among women attending Antenatal care (ANC) and Postnatal care (PNC) at the Hohoe Municipal Hospital, Ghana
It could be due to the findings that a greater proportion of the postpartum women in our study are employed as a study by Lakew et al in Ethiopia showed that working lactating mothers had a lower odds (AOR: 0.71; 95%Confidence Interval (CI) 0.63 to 0.80) of being anaemic
Summary
Anaemia among pregnant women and post-partum mothers is a public health challenge in Ghana, especially in the Volta Region. This study, examined the prevalence and associated risk factors of anaemia among women attending antenatal care and post-natal care. In Africa, a 2013 cross-sectional study conducted among 384 pregnant women in Northwest Ethiopia found the prevalence of anaemia to be 22% [10]. A 2016 study conducted by Bekele, Tilahun and Mekuria [11] among 332 pregnant women in the same country, found anaemia prevalence to be 33%, an indication that the problem was on the ascendency. A cross-sectional secondary data analysis on anaemia prevalence among post-partum mothers in the same country found 22% prevalence rate [12], lower than the prevalence rates among pregnant women [10, 11]
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