Nutritional Knowledge and Practices Among Expectant Mothers in Olorunda Local Government Area, Osogbo Osun State

Abstract

Maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy is an important determinant of birth weight, high rate of low birth weight in developing countries has been attributed to poor maternal nutrition. The study assessed the nutritional knowledge and practices among expectant mothers in Olorunda Local Government Area, Osogbo Osun State. A Cross-Sectional study was conducted among 290 pregnant women between ages 15 to 49. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics, nutritional knowledge and practices of respondents. Larger percentage (85.9%) of respondents had good nutritional knowledge and 14.1% had poor knowledge. Also, 81.7% had good nutritional practice while 18.3% had poor nutritional practice. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, using chi-square there was no association between nutritional knowledge and age (X2=2.911, p – value=0.573). There was an association between knowledge and level of education (X2=13.713, p – value=0.003) and there was no significant relationship between nutritional knowledge and nutritional practice of expectant mothers (X2=1.195, p-value=0.188). Nutritional knowledge and practice is high among expectant mothers in this study. However, women with no formal education had poor nutritional knowledge and practices and should be the target for nutrition education intervention.