Knowledge, Attitude and Practiceon Prevention of Iron Deficiency Anemia Among Pregnant Women Attending Ante Natal Care Unitat Public Hospitals of Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia

Background: Globally, the most common cause of anemia is iron deficiency, which is responsible for about half of anemia cases in pregnancy, and it is estimated that in developed countries 38% of pregnant women have iron depletion. In developing countries, the major causes of anemia in pregnancy are nutritional deficiencies, parasitic infestations, HIV infection, hemorrhage and some chronic medical disorders like renal and hepatic diseases. Recent statistics indicate that anemia affects 57% of pregnant women globally with the highest prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. Anemia is an indicator of nutritional deficiencies that significantly contribute to birth defects, preterm labour and low birth weight, hence it causes global public health problem. Objectives:- To assess knowledge, attitude and practice on prevention of Iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women attending ante-natal care unit at public Hospitals of Harar town, eastern Ethiopia from March, 12 - April 06, 2018. Method:- The study was done in Harar town on the public hospitals from March 12-April 12, 2018. The study design was institutional based cross sectional study. By using a single population formula & by making a correction formula our sample size was 128, which the pregnant women was select by simple random sampling from each Hospitals after proportional allocated based on the total sample size. The data was collected using close ended semi-structured questioners by trained 4 diploma nurses with 1 supervisor. For processing & analyzing SPSS version 20 was used & the data were presented by table, graph & chart using frequency & percentage of the results. Discussion: In our study the prevalence anemia shows 32% which indicate less than study done in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz, Egypt, Jordan, higher than Armenia & Moldova this may due to sample size & study area difference. Similar study in Sierra Leone among the 185 subjects, majority (89.2%) had heard about anemia. Which is comparable to our study, 68.1% recognized lack of iron in food as the cause for anemia, which is low in our study. About 69.7% pointed that consuming iron rich foods could prevent anemia, in our study it is less. Conclusion: according to our study the prevalence of IDA were low, this may related to most had knew, had positive attitude and practice method use to prevent iron deficiency anemia