Abstract:
Maternal mortality reduction has been a global health priority to prevent women and
babies who die due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth especially, in
developing country. There have been several interventions to curb maternal and
neonatal deaths in Ghana. To achieve good maternal health the food habits of pregnant
women in the New Juaben municipality, Koforidua in the Eastern Region of Ghana was
investigated. Descriptive survey was used to find out the nutritional knowledge of the
pregnant women, identify their food intake, health challenges during pregnancy and
also how to improve the food habits of pregnant women attending ante-natal clinic at
the Eastern Regional Government Hospital, in the New Juaben Municipality in
Koforidua. Purposive and convenience, both non-probability sampling techniques were
used on 100 respondents aged 15-41 years and above using questionnaire and interview
guide. Analysis was done using S.P.S.S version 23 and the result was analysed using
descriptive statistics. It was deduced from the findings that ignorance, socio-cultural
and economic factors inhibit respondents intake of nutrients because sometimes the
food is available, but culturally unacceptable norms forbid them to eat while others
cannot afford to buy and eat nutritious food. Inferential statistic was also performed
using the one sample t-test, it was concluded that there was statistically significant
difference in the nutritional knowledge of protein, t (99) = -3.282, p-value = 0.001) and
iodine (t(99) = -2.650, p-value = 0.009). However, there was no statistical significance
in the nutritional knowledge of vitamin B (p-value = 0.079), vitamin C (p-value =
0.314), vitamin D (p-value = 0.282), folic acid (p-value = 0.451), calcium (p-value =
0.499) and omega 3 fatty-acids (p-value= 0.770) among pregnant women. This means
that the pregnant women who attended ante-natal clinic at Koforidua regional hospital
had nutritional knowledge of protein and iodine, but lacked nutritional knowledge of
some vitamin including folic acid, calcium and omega 3 fatty-acids, which serves as
some essential nutrients needed in pregnancy. Pregnant women should report health
challenges such as nausea, oedema and other health challenges to their health care
providers to be addressed promptly to prevent complications. To improve on the food
habits of respondents’ variety of foods should be eaten. It is recommended that
provision of comprehensive nutritional education should be given to all women in the
reproductive years. Cultural barriers associated with food should be discouraged and
consumption of locally produced nutritious food should be encouraged before and
during pregnancy to prevent maternal malnutrition and its related effects. Pregnant
women should eat balanced diet to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3
of good maternal health by the year 2030.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Home Economics,
Faculty of Science Education submitted to the school of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements of the award of Master of Philosophy of
Home Economics (Food and Nutrition)
June, 2019