Description:
Background: Iron folate supplementation for pregnant mothers is cost effective intervention
reducing maternal and perinatal mortality. Despite the efforts to reduce iron deficiency anemia
during pregnancy by providing iron folate supplement free of charge, only few women took an
iron supplement as recommended Therefore determining level and associated factors of
compliance with iron folate is initial step to improve compliance to iron folic supplementation
among pregnant mother in study area and similar setting.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the iron –folic acid supplements and associated
factors among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Public health center of Shalla
district, South West, Ethiopia, 2019
Method and Materials: Institution based cross-sectional quantitative study design was
conducted among 402 pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinic, selected using systematic
random sampling technique and using iron folate supplements in all public health center found
in Shalla District, West Arsi Zone, Oromia Region. The collected data was analyzed using Epi
data 3.1 and SPSS version 20 packages and relationship between compliance level to iron-folic
acid supplementation and its associated factor was considered as significant at P values of <0.05.
Results: Pill count compliance rate was found to be (154)38.3%. Pregnant mother who had
anemia in their previous pregnancy (AOR = 11.35, 95% CI: 4.76-27.03), antenatal care during
second trimester (AOR = 2.32, 95% CI: 1.12-4.81), counseling on iron-folate supplement (AOR
= 11.39, 95% CI: 5.09- 27.03) and awareness on benefit of iron-folate supplement (AOR = 2.22,
95% CI: 1.18-3.92) were significantly associated with compliance to iron-folate supplement.
Conclusions. Compared to World Health Organization cut of point pill count compliance rate
of iron-folate supplementation among pregnant women in study area was very low. This study
showed that pregnant mother with previous history of anemia, early antenatal care, counseling
on iron-folate supplement and awareness on benefit of iron-folate supplement significantly
affects compliance to iron folate supplement.