Understanding Maternal Nutrition Insights from Pregnant Women in Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract

The foundation for good physical health is good nutritional status. Nutritional status of pregnant women is directly affected by the foods they eat and their nutrient content. Nutritional knowledge is positively associated with diet quality. The aim of this study was to assess nutritional status and nutrition education knowledge of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Bamenda Health District (BHD).  Study Design: This study was carried conducted in BHD in the North West Region of Cameroon, with pregnant women aged 13 to 49 years recruited from public hospitals. Place and Duration of Study: BHD including (Bamenda Regional Hospital, Azire Integrated Health centre, Atuakom Integrated Health Centre, Ntambag Integrated Health Centre) between April 2022 to September 2022. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study carried out in four health facilities BHD. Random sampling technique was done to target the sample size of 354 pregnant women. A questionnaire was developed to collect socio-demographic information and clinical records of the pregnant women. Anthropometric parameters, biochemical and dietary assessments of the women were determined using standard techniques. Data collected was analysed by MS excel and SPSS Statistics version 20.0. Results were considered at significance level P ≤ 0.05.  Results: The mean age of the study population was 26.4±5.5years and the average intake of servings of meals per day was suboptimal in the consumption of vegetables (2±1.9), fruits (0.6± 1.3) and milk (0.4 ±0.6) food groups. Women consumed diets that met less than 50% of energy needs. There exists a significant difference in mean energy requirements 1828.8 ± 152.9 Kcal compared to mean energy intake 1192.0 ± 344.6 Kcal which is below the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) of 2400 kcal for pregnant women. Ignorance still existed in dietary knowledge and 18.1% of the women were anaemic.  Conclusion: There was an overall suboptimal approach to dietary intake among the pregnant women, inadequate food intake, poor food choices and limited healthy dietary knowledge. Thus pregnant women in BHD still need more access to information on dietary information.