ORIGINAL RESEARCH Maternal Knowledge Associated with the Prevalence of Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation Among Pregnant Women in Muntinlupa, Philippines: A Cross-Sectional Study This article was published in the following Dove Press journal: Patient Preference and Adherence Tadashi Yamashita 1 Ramon Emilio Daniel Roces 2 Cecilia Ladines-Llave 2 Maria Teresa Reyes Tuliao 3 Mary Wanjira Kamau 4 Chika Yamada 5,6 Yuko Tanaka 7 Kyoko Shimazawa 1 Saori Iwamoto 1 Hiroya Matsuo 6 1 Kobe City College of Nursing, Kobe, Japan; 2 Hospital of Muntinlupa, Muntinlupa, Philippines; 3 City Health Offce, City Government of Muntinlupa, Muntinlupa, Philippines; 4 School of Nursing Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya; 5 Department of Environment Coexistence, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; 6 Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan; 7 Department of School Health Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan Purpose: The World Health Organization advocates that all pregnant women in areas where anemia is prevalent receive supplements of iron and folic acid. However, owing to a myriad of factors, the uptake of iron and folic acid supplementation (IFAS) is still low in many countries. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of IFAS and its associated factors among pregnant women. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a hospital in Muntinlupa, Philippines, between March and August 2019 among 280 pregnant women. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select participants. Data were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed to identify factors associated with the prevalence of IFAS among pregnant women. Results: Among 280 pregnant women, a majority (85.6%, n= 238) took IFAS during pregnancy. Among the respondents, 128 (45.9%) women had knowledge about signs and symptoms of anemia, 126 (45.3%) had knowledge of the benefts associated with IFAS, and 42 (15.4%) had knowledge about side effects associated with IFAS. The main sources of information about IFAS were health care providers (41.8%), followed by community health workers (CHWs) (14.6%). Maternal knowledge concerning IFAS benefts (OR = 2.50, CI = 1.04–5.97, p=0.04) was positively associated with the prevalence of IFAS. Conclusion: Maternal knowledge about the benefts of taking IFAS was signifcantly associated with the prevalence of IFAS among pregnant women in Muntinlupa, Philippines. There is a pressing need to improve health education on the benefts of IFAS among pregnant women to increase its prevalence. This emphasizes the necessity of increased involvement of health care providers and CHWs to increase women’s knowledge of IFAS benefts and support them through pregnancy. Keywords: anemia, pregnancy, health education, health care providers, community health workers Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that worldwide, 613 million women at reproductive age are anemic, and a vast majority of anemic pregnant women reside in Asia and Africa. 1 In the Philippines, anemia prevalence among pregnant women remains high as shown in the National Nutrition Surveys in 2003 (43.9%), 2008 (42.5%), and 2013 (25.2%). 2,3 Anemia during pregnancy (ie Correspondence: Tadashi Yamashita Kobe City College of Nursing, 3-4 Gakuennishi-Machi, Nishi-Ku, Kobe, 651-2103, Japan Tel/Fax +81-78-794-8079 Email tadashi_y_kobe@yahoo.co.jp submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com Patient Preference and Adherence 2021:15 501–510 501 http://doi.org/10.2147/PPA.S291939 DovePress © 2021 Yamashita et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/ terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php). Patient Preference and Adherence Dovepress open access to scientific and medical research Open Access Full Text Article Patient Preference and Adherence downloaded from https://www.dovepress.com/ by 150.59.64.82 on 04-Mar-2021 For personal use only. 1 / 1