Compliance with the consumption of iron and folate supplements by pregnant women in Mafikeng local municipality, North West province, South Africa

Abstract

BackgroundAnaemia due to iron deficiency is recognized as one of the major nutritional deficiencies in women and children in developing countries. Daily iron supplementation for pregnant women is recommended in many countries. The aim of the study was to investigate the factors that contribute to compliance to the consumption of iron and folate supplements by pregnant woman in Mafikeng local municipality, North West Province, South Africa.Research MethodsA mixed method of descriptive, exploratory and cross-sectional design was used. Ten clinics were used as a sample frame where 57 pregnant women and 10 health workers were purposefully and conveniently selected. Quantitative techniques were used to collect data on attendance, consumption and nutrition knowledge using the self-reported questionnaire by pregnant women, and structured interview for health workers. Qualitative design was used to conduct in - depth focus-group discussions to gather information on compliance to the consumption of supplements by pregnant women.FindingsThe findings of the study revealed good antenatal clinic attendance, availability of supplements and 93% compliance to the consumption of iron and folate supplements.RecommendationsHigh compliance to the consumption of iron and folate supplements by pregnant women was reported, and this should be reinforced.

Adherence to Iron-Folic Acid Supplementation and Associated Factors among Pregnant Women in Kasulu Communities in North-Western Tanzania

“…These findings corroborated with studies conducted in Mizan-Aman, Ethiopia, and Pakistan [28,32]. Studies conducted in Uganda, Pakistan, and South Africa found that less supply of IFAS had low adherence to IFAS [24,32,33]. Other studies conducted in Ismailia government and Assela town-Ethiopia reported that crowding of tablets was associated with the low adherence to supplementation [34,35].…”

“…This study corroborates with the study conducted in Ethiopia [41,42]; however, the other studies reported that fear of being sick or being sick was associated with adherence to the IFAS program [21,26,28,43]. On the other hand, misinformation included fear to give birth to big baby, spot-on teeth of children and face of mothers, difficult delivery, not beneficial to babies, mothers experience with no history of having children with neural tube defects, and more bleeding during delivery was associated with low adherence to IFAS [10,20,33,35,44]. Regarding forgetfulness, the study was consistent with various studies conducted in various regions including Kenya, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Iran [23,32,43,45,46].…”

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“…Additionally, women and families should receive nutritional education prior to and during pregnancy. This could also be helpful to address barriers related to unscientific beliefs against consuming medications during pregnancy, which have been published by Casey et al 24 Furthermore, as previous studies have reported a positive association of education with a reduced risk for anemia in pregnancy, 19 multivariable analysis for a possible correlation between anemia and education were conducted. However, in our study, no significant association could be found; possibly because the level of education was generally low.…”

Factors Associated With Adherence To Iron Supplementation Among Pregnant Women

“…Midwives say that the best support should be from the husband. The support of husband has significant contribution in supporting the pregnant mother to a consume iron tablet, their care to remind is needed to remember why medicine needed to be consumed every day (12).…”