Magnitude of Anemia and its Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women in Jowhar District, Somalia

Globally, anemia affected 1.62 billion people; of these, 56 million anemia cases were found in pregnant women. Anemia is a global public health problem that affects both developing and industrialized countries with major consequences of social and economic burdens. This study set out to determine the prevalence of anemia and its associated factors among pregnant women attending Antenatal Care at public hospitals in Jowhar district, South Somalia. A total of 376 study respondents were included in the study. Structured questionnaires and laboratory investigation was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using binary and multivariable logistic regression. The significance of the association was declared at a p-value < 0.05. The overall prevalence of anemia was 53.1%. Most of the participants were mild anemic (36.53%). The mean hemoglobin concentration of pregnant women was 10.7 ± 2.0 g/dl. In second trimester of pregnancy (AOR=0.32, 95%CI=0.12-0.83), taking meal less than two times per day (AOR=4.80, 95%CI=1.41-16.36), rare meat (AOR= 43.07, 95%CI=2.56-73.50) and fruit (AOR= 6.01, 95%CI= 1.05-34.33) consumption and lack of iron folic supplementation (AOR= 10.06, 95%CI= 1.51-67.05) were significantly associated with anemia among pregnant women. Findings indicated that more than half (53.1%) of the pregnant women were anemic, which is a severe public health problem according to WHO classifications. Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Health and its counterpart in Hir-Shabelle State should work together to tackle anemia through nutrition education and folic iron supplementation.