Factors Contributing to Malnutrition Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic in Mityana Hospital, Mityana district.

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition is still highly prevalent among pregnant women in Uganda with 12% of them being undernourished 64% of pregnant women and 53% of lactating women being anemic and 18.6% of pregnant women and 17.3% of lactating mothers having Vitamin A deficiency. Many of the 200 million women who become pregnant each year, most of them in developing countries suffer from ongoing nutritional deficiencies, repeated infections and the long term cumulative consequences of under nutrition during their own childhood.(UNICEF, 2009) General objective: The study assessed the factors contributing to malnutrition among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Mityana hospital, Mityana district. Research methodology: The study employed a cross-sectional research design to collect data on factors contributing to malnutrition in pregnant mothers. A Convenient sampling method was adopted to recruit 325 mothers into this study. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data and data was analyzed using SPSS16 version. Results: The study revealed that, of the 325 pregnant mothers interviewed, 45.38% (147/325) were found to be malnourished. Lack of balanced diet [OR=3.2 (CI=1.54-6.88) P=0.002 ], Parity more than 4 [OR=2.22 (CI=1.06-4.64) P=0.035 ], Having food taboos [OR=0.17 (CI=0.05-0.52) P=0.002], Age more than 30 years [OR=26.4(CI=6.07-114.9) P=0.001],Christians [OR=0.29 (CI=0.13- 0.66) P=0.003]and monthly income more than Ush.100,000 [OR=2.72(CI=1.04-7.08)P=0.04], we found to the contributing factors to malnutrition among pregnant mothers in Mityana district. Conclusion: The study found out that the prevalence of malnutrition was moderately high. Age more than 30 years, Christian faith religion, monthly income of more than Ush. 100,000, lack of a balanced diet, parity more than 4 and having food taboos were found to be the major independent variables contributing to malnutrition among pregnant women attending ANC in Mityana hospital, Mityana district. Recommendation: Therefore, Community based nutrition and maternal health programs should be established to tackle the problem of malnutrition and poor knowledge and attitudes on maternal health in the community.