Factors associated with iron and folic acid supplements uptake among pregnant women in Dar es salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Anemia in pregnancy is a public health concern globally particularly in developing countries like Tanzania. Iron and folic acid (IFA) deficiencies during pregnancy have harmful outcomes to both the mother and fetus. Uptake of the IFA supplements in Tanzania has remained low despite various interventions and health promotion messages. Hence need to address the knowledge gap on factors for IFAS uptake by assessing the factors associated with IFAS uptake among pregnant women in Tanzania. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using quantitative approach. Purposive sampling of the hospitals was done. A simple random sampling technique (lottery technique) was used to obtain the study participants. Thetarget population was post-delivery women in postnatal wards of Temeke, Mwananyamala and Amana regional referral hospitals.A total of 428 participants were recruited in the study. Descriptive analyses, bivariate and multivariate analyseswereconductedusing IBM SPSS Statistics 23. Results: Less than one in three pregnant women (31.8%) attending ANC at referral hospitals of Dar es salaam had an appropriate uptake of IFAS among women attending ANC. IFAS uptake was associated with multiparity (AOR=0.26 95% CI 0.10 – 0.67), increased with the frequency of ANC visits, family support (AOR=0.083 95% CI 0.01 – 0.62), and wealth index (AOR=11.68 95% CI 2.91 – 89.57). IFAS uptake was also 9 times higher among women whose households had food security than those women whose households had food insecurity access (AOR=9.21 95% CI 1.82 – 10.33). Conclusion and recommendations: IFAS uptake among pregnant women attending regional referral hospitals in Dar es Salaam wasonly 31.8%. Such unprecedented low uptake needs to be addressed to improve the burden of anemia among pregnant women in Tanzania and areas with similar contexts. Targeted interventions are needed among pregnant women with higher parity (multparous women), with fewer ANC attendances, with challenging family support, with household economic hardship (low wealth index), and those from houselholds with food insecurity.