Adherence to Iron-Folic Acid Supplementation and Associated Factors:

Abstract

Introduction: Adherence to iron folic acid supplementation is a very important issue in combating iron deficiency anemia. Yet there are many factors ranging from individual, socio-economic and health facility related that contribute to this low adherence. This study focused on the adherence among pregnant women in second trimester at Gulu regional referral hospital in northern Uganda. Objective: To establish the proportion of adherence to iron- folic acid supplementation and the associated factors among pregnant women attending Antenatal at Gulu regional hospital-northern Uganda Methods: A cross sectional study design employing quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to determine level of adherence to iron folic acid supplements and factors associated among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Gulu regional hospital. A sample of 402 pregnant women in their second trimester and two key informants were selected through purposive sampling method to be interviewed. Results: The results shows that proportion of adherence was 63.7% and the factors which were significantly associated with it included number of children (p-value of 0.000) number of times the mother was taking (p-value of 0.003), number of months (p-value of 0.033, willingness to continue taking (p-value of 0.000); knowledge on the how many iron folic acid supplement Knowledge on the importance and how to manage side effects after taking iron folic acid supplements (p-value of 0.000) having seen posters on iron folic acid supplements. Conclusion: The proportion of adherence was high among pregnant women at Gulu regional referral hospital and the factors such as number of children, number of weeks, number of months and knowledge of the women on importance and management of side effects were significantly associated with high levels of adherence. Recommendations: Pregnant women should report early for antenatal services so that the health workers can be able to provide to them all the components of goal oriented ANC Pregnant women should use other available sources of information about iron folic acid supplementation not only the radio but through peer to peer groups and the mother in laws who have experience in child upbringing.