Role of Nutrition Education to Overcome Food Taboos and Improve Demand for Iron Tablet Intak during Pregnancy in Rural Communities in Ethiopia

Abstract

Objectives:  The impact of community based nutrition education in nutrient rich foods intake and iron tablets demand among pregnant women in rural communities in Ethiopia. Methods: A pre and post intervention cross sectional study was conducted using Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) method. Ninety sampled pregnant mothers were taken and all of them participated in the survey. A total of 122 and 110 children were assessed for anthropometry and 12 FGDs were conducted. To ensure high quality data on anthropometry, standard techniques were followed. Selected indicators were compared for changes before and after intervention Results: The proportion of mothers that avoid nutrient rich food stuffs such as milk, meat and eggs have reduced from 90% to 40%. Making fetus large and the consequent deliveries difficult was the main reason for not eating nutrint rich foods during pregnancy. Other foods such as sugarcane and banana were also prohibited during pregnancy. Moreover, the proportion of mothers who received iron tablets has increased from 5% to 32.6%. The prevalence of underweight (weight-for-age Z score <-2SD) has reduced from 27.1% to 22%. Focus group discussions revealed that nutrient rich food intake as well as mothers' demanding for iron tablets   and taking it has improved in the community. Conclusions: The behavior of the pregnant mother towards food diversification and intake of nutrient dense food during pregnancy improved. The lessons learned from this study  was that nutrition education focused on food taboos during pregnancy will produce significant results in improving maternal nutrition ,iron intake and  pregnancy outcome.