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Anaemia in pregnant women in eastern Caprivi, Namibia
1Faculty of Medicine, Southampton General Hospital, UK.
Objective:
To describe the prevalence, character and possible aetiology of anaemia in the study region.
Design:
A cross-sectional study involving a lifestyle and dietary questionnaire, a clinical examination and an analysis of blood and stool samples.
Setting:
Katima Mulilo antenatal clinic, East Caprivi, Namibia.
Subjects:
171 pregnant women attending the clinic in September 1995.
Main Outcome Measures:
Effects on haemoglobin concentration of age, trimester, parity, residential area, sociodemographic factors, malaria, parasites, geophagy, diet, cooking pot used, vitamin and mineral supplementation and malaria prophylaxis.
Results:
41.5% of the women were found to be anaemic (haemoglobin < 11 g/dl) and there was a significant risk of their being iron-deficient (P = 0.01). Three maternal characteristics were found to have a significant effect on a woman's risk of anaemia: urban residence (P < 0.05), geophagy (P < 0.01) and the taking of prophylactic chloroquine (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
Mild anaemia affects a large proportion of the pregnant women in East Caprivi; severe anaemia (< 7 g/dl) is not common. The picture is predominantly one of iron deficiency, possibly complicated by concomitant folate deficiency. There is no single easily identifiable cause of this anaemia; it appears to have a multifactorial aetiology. Further studies on the effect of the current malaria prophylaxis programme are warranted.
