Anaemia and Dietary Diversity among Pregnant Women an Margibi and Grand Cape Mount Counties, Liberia

Abstract

Background Globally, anaemia remains a severe public health concern among women of reproductive ages including pregnant women in developing countries like Liberia. Anaemia can be attributed to nutritional deficiency resulting from factors such as inadequate or poor dietary intake, food insecurity, infections. Poor dietary diversity also leads to increased micronutrient deficiencies. Nevertheless, there is limited documentation of anaemia prevalence and dietary diversity among pregnant women in Liberia. Aim The aim of this study was to assess dietary diversity and the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women in Margibi and Grand Cape Mount Counties, Liberia. Method A cross sectional study design was used. A systematic sampling procedure was used to recruit 139 pregnant women between 15-49 years from antenatal clinics in Margibi and Grand Cape Mount counties. Data were collected through interviewer administered questionnaires. Dietary intake information was obtained through a 24-hour dietary recall. Based on this, dietary diversity was obtained following the FAO dietary diversity determination protocol for women in their reproductive ages. Hemoglobin status was determined using the hemocue analyzer. SPSS version 23 software was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, means and standard deviation were applied to analyze the data. Statistical inferences were drawn using t-tests and chi square tests. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. iii

Results The mean age was 24.0 (7.0) years. Nearly all the pregnant women (98.1%) consumed from the grains group. Lesser percentage (23.7%) consumed from the vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables group. The mean Minimum Dietary Diversity among women of reproductive age (MDD-W) was 3.57±1.01. Also, 54% of the pregnant women were anaemic. The mean hemoglobin level was 10.44 g/dl ± 1.46. There was no significant association between dietary diversity and anaemia among the pregnant women. Conclusion The prevalence of anaemia among the pregnant women was of public health concern among the pregnant women. Many of the pregnant women had poor dietary diversity. There is an imperative need to encourage diversity in dietary intake through awareness, education, and knowledge in dietary diversity and improve access to diverse foods for a healthy life.