A survey on women's awareness of iron and folic acid intake during preconception period and its associated factors in Manna District, Oromia region, Southwest Ethiopia.
Firanbon Teshome, Yohannes Kebede, Kasahun Girma and 1 others
PMID 34415662WHAT IT FOUND
Only 42 of 623 Ethiopian pregnant women had heard or read about iron or folic acid before pregnancy.
Awareness was more common among women whose husbands had formal education, who made four or more antenatal visits, or lived under 30 minutes from a health facility.
Key findings
01Only 42 of 623 pregnant women had awareness of at least one of iron or folic acid intake during the preconception period.
02Awareness was higher among women whose husbands had formal education, who lived under 30 minutes from a health facility, or who had four or more antenatal visits.
03Among women who were aware, 33.33% first learned about iron or folic acid from healthcare providers.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Women were asked after becoming pregnant to recall what they had heard before conception, so answers may be affected by memory. The study enrolled pregnant women rather than women in the preconception period because of budget and sampling constraints. Interviewer bias was possible, although data collectors were trained. Awareness was defined as having ever heard or read about iron or folic acid, not actual intake or adequate knowledge. Most participants were rural, had no formal education, were Muslim, and were housewives, so the findings may not apply to other settings. The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that husband education, distance, or antenatal visits caused awareness.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations with husband education, distance from a health facility, or antenatal visits as proof that these factors cause awareness. This was a cross-sectional survey, and it measured only whether women had heard or read about iron or folic acid, not whether they took them.