Research Article
Women’s Awareness and Associated Factors on Preconception
Folic Acid Supplementation in Adet, Northwestern Ethiopia, 2016:
Implication of Reproductive Health
Yitayal Ayalew Goshu ,
1
Tewachew Muche Liyeh ,
1
Amare Simegn Ayele ,
1
Liknaw Bewket Zeleke ,
2
and Yohannes Tesfahun Kassie
3
1
Department of Midwifery, College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia
2
Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia
3
Debre Tabor General Hospital, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia
Correspondence should be addressed to Yitayal Ayalew Goshu; ayalewyitayal@gmail.com
Received 12 February 2018; Revised 17 April 2018; Accepted 10 June 2018; Published 17 July 2018
Academic Editor: Michael B. Zemel
Copyright © 2018 Yitayal Ayalew Goshu et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Introduction. Preconception folic acid supplementation is the provision of folate for reproductive age group women who have
a plan to be pregnant. According to different studies, in African countries, there is poor utilization of preconception folic
supplementation. So this study aimed at assessing women’s awareness on preconception care and its associated factors in Adet,
Northwestern Ethiopia. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 1 to April 1, 2016, among
422 reproductive age group women. Systematic random sampling was used to get the study unit, and the data were collected using
pretested structured questionnaire via face-to-face interview. e collected data were entered, cleaned, checked using EpiData
version 3.1, and finally analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive summary of the data was presented in terms of percentage and
frequency. Binary and multiple logistic regressions were used in order to identify predictors using odds ratio at 95% confidence
interval. Result. In this study, a total of 422 reproductive age group women participated with a response rate of 100%. Of a total of
422 participants, 67 (15.9%) of the women had good awareness on preconception folic acid supplementation. Women’s awareness
on preconception folic acid supplementation was affected by having a chronic health problem, monthly household income,
educational status, and a history of family planning use. Women who were educated (AOR 4.77, CI 1.85–6.98), had a history of
family planning use (AOR 3.89, CI 1.77–8.55), had a chronic health problem (AOR 3.47, CI 2.68–5.98), and had a better monthly
income (AOR 2.6, CI 2.05–6.76) had good awareness than their counterparts. Conclusion and Recommendation. is study
concluded that women’s awareness on preconception folic acid supplementation was low. is finding suggests that there is a need
to give emphasis and deliver health education about preconception folic acid supplementation for women.
1. Introduction
Supplementing folic acid before pregnancy is the provision
of folate for reproductive age group women who have a plan
to be pregnant, so that the health of women before preg-
nancy can be promoted and pregnancy-related outcomes
can be improved [1, 2]. Folic acid is an important substance
which is grouped under essential vitamin B that provides
one-carbon molecules for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
synthesis, protein synthesis, and methylation of DNA and
proteins [3]. A study, which was done to see the association
between maternal folic acid intake and the risk of neural tube
defects, revealed that the pathway of folic acid plays a critical
role in cellular function and human development [1].
According to different interventional studies done in
different countries, administering of 0.4 mg of folic acid for
the reproductive age group three months before pregnancy,
during pregnancy period, and up to one month after
pregnancy has been associated with up to 80% reduction in
specific congenital anomalies including neural tube defects
(NTDs) with associated hydrocephalus, oral facial clefts with
or without cleft palate, congenital heart disease, urinary tract
anomalies, and limb defects, as well as some pediatric
cancers [4–11]. Many articles revealed that preconception
Hindawi
Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 2018, Article ID 4936080, 7 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4936080