Assessment of Knowledge and Practices regarding Iron Deficiency Anaemia among Pregnant Women in Kattankudy D.S. Division of Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and practices regarding anaemia among pregnant women in the Kattankudy D.S. division of Batticaloa district, Sri Lanka. A total of 352 pregnant women were enrolled on the study using a non-random sampling method. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect data. The descriptive analysis was used to study the sociodemographic and baseline data of the participants. Friedman’s test was used to determine the relationship between study variables. Baseline data indicated that 59.9% of the women were multigravida, and the majority of the pregnant women had pregnancy spacing for more than three years. The haemoglobin (Hb) level of the women showed that the majority of them (80.1%) had ≥11 g d/L (normal), and only 19.9% of them had <11 g d/L (anaemic). Most of the women i.e., 226 (64.2 %), knew pregnancy as the cause of anaemia, and the majority of respondents were unaware of the causes of anaemia like repeated pregnancy at a short interval i.e., <2 years (210 i.e., 59.7%), poor dietary habits (183 i.e., 52.0%), hookworm infection (210 i.e., 59.7%) and history of heavy menstrual flow (197 i.e., 56.0%). There was a significant relationship between pregnant women’s educational level and their knowledge regarding the causes of anaemia, according to the Friedman test (χ2 = 905.321, p<0.05). The majority of pregnant women were following good practices for the prevention of anaemia. The study indicated that pregnant women had poor knowledge of the causes of anaemia, and intervention is required to reduce the prevalence of anaemia during pregnancy.