Pregnant Women and Persisting Challenge of Anaemia in Ebonyi State , South-East Nigeria

A prospective survey for gestational anaemia was conducted on 307 pregnant women (11-38 weeks gestation) of the northern side of Ebonyi State. The socioeconomic and obstetric data were collected through semi-structured questionnaire. The haemoglobin levels of the subjects were assessed by Drabkin (cyanmethaemoglobin) method and used as the index of anaemia. Statistical analysis was done with computer software: “Statistical Program for Social Sciences” (SPSS for windows version 15.0). The result showed that approximately 77.4% of the women were anaemic; with majority falling within moderate and mild type of anaemia. We concluded that anaemia in pregnancy was still on the increase. Parity, occupation, level of education and living accommodation seemed to be significant predisposing risk factors to the prevalence of gestational anaemia.