Abstract
Background Although deworming pregnant women is one of the strategies to reduce parasites (roundworms and hookworms) causing anemia and related perinatal and maternal complications, utilization of deworming medication among pregnant women in Cameroon is suboptimal. Comprehensive assessment of individual, household (including women's autonomy), and community-level factors associated with utilization of deworming medication has not been done so far. Therefore, we investigated the individual/household and community-level factors associated with deworming among pregnant married women in Cameroon. Methods Our study was limited to pregnant women because they have a greater risk due to increased chances of anemia. We used data from the 2018/19 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey. Analysis on 5,013 pregnant married women was carried out using multilevel logistic regression. Odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were reported. Results Our findings showed that about 29.8% of pregnant married women received deworming medications. The individual/household level predictors of deworming medications utilization identified in this study were women's educational level, wealth quintile, and skilled antenatal care. Distance to health facility and region were identified as community-level predictors of deworming medications utilization. Higher odds of receiving deworming medication occurred among educated and wealthier pregnant married women as well as among pregnant married women who had skilled antenatal care or lived in the south region, whereas lower odds were observed among pregnant married women living in the north region. Conclusion Access to education and economic empowerment of pregnant married women in remote areas and the north region should be the primary focus of the Cameroon government to enhance deworming coverage in the country.
Highlights
Deworming pregnant women is one of the strategies to reduce parasites causing anemia and related perinatal and maternal complications, utilization of deworming medication among pregnant women in Cameroon is suboptimal
The data used for the analysis in this study were extracted from the 2018/19 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS), which is carried out by the Cameroon National Institute of Statistics (CNIS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH) with financial and technical support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and ICF International [38]
Compared to pregnant married women living in the Adamawa region, we found that the likelihood of taking deworming medication among pregnant married women who were living in the South region was higher, while lower odds are reported among women in the North region
Summary
Deworming pregnant women is one of the strategies to reduce parasites (roundworms and hookworms) causing anemia and related perinatal and maternal complications, utilization of deworming medication among pregnant women in Cameroon is suboptimal. Comprehensive assessment of individual, household (including women’s autonomy), and community-level factors associated with utilization of deworming medication has not been done so far. We investigated the individual/household and community-level factors associated with deworming among pregnant married women in Cameroon. Our findings showed that about 29.8% of pregnant married women received deworming medications. The individual/household level predictors of deworming medications utilization identified in this study were women’s educational level, wealth quintile, and skilled antenatal care. Distance to health facility and region were identified as community-level predictors of deworming medications utilization. Access to education and economic empowerment of pregnant married women in remote areas and the north region should be the primary focus of the Cameroon government to enhance deworming coverage in the country. STH are common diseases and distinctive among communities with inadequate infrastructure, hygiene, or sanitation facilities and among communities with poor awareness of the benefits of proper face disposal [7]
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