Prevalence and Associated Factors of Anemia Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at Mizan Aman General Hospital, Bench Maji Zone, Southwest, Ethiopia.

Background: Anemia is one of the most common nutritional deficiency disorders affecting pregnant women; its prevalence in developed countries is 14% and in developing countries 51%. It is therefore important to understand the prevalence and associated factors of anemia in our study area. This will encourage antenatal caregivers to identify and treat anemia early in pregnancy. Objective: Therefore, the study's goal was to determine the prevalence of anemia and its contributing factors among pregnant women receiving prenatal care. Methods: Between April 2021 and May 2021, 295 pregnant women attending prenatal care participated in a cross-sectional facility-based study. Epidata software was used to enter the data, which were then exported to SPSS software for Windows version 23 for analysis. To determine the factors contributing to anemia in pregnant women, descriptive statistics collected with the study were performed together with bivariable logistic regression and the log-binomial model. Results: Among the 295 study participants, 24.7% were anemic. Out of these, most were mild types 78.1%. Illiterate pregnant women (ARR 2.89; 95% CI: 1.76-6.43, p value = 0.037), with no iron-containing food intake per day (ARR 1.74; 95% CI: 1.59-1.95, p value = 0.01), and infected with malaria (ARR 1.58; 95% CI: 1.76-2.53, p value = 0.03) had higher odds of being anemic, compared to their counterpart. Gestational age of the first (ARR 0.21; 95% CI: 0.03-0.98, p value = 0.01), and second (ARR 0.8; 95% CI: 0.43-0.96, p value = 0.013) trimester has lower odds of being anemic compared to their counterpart. Conclusion: Anemia in pregnant women is found to be a moderate public health issue in the research location. It is strongly and independently impacted by malaria infection and iron-containing meal consumption. Reducing the prevalence of anemia is made possible by improved iron-containing meal consumption. In addition, it is strongly advised that pregnant women receive education and should take iron supplements during pregnancy visits.