Prevalence of Women Taking Iron-Folic Acid (IFA) During Pregnancy and its Impact on Child Birth Weight

Introduction: Pregnancy is a crucial period with increased metabolic demands. Vitamins, minerals and folic acids are the major determinants of not only the child’s health but also the pregnant woman. Objective: To evaluate maternal intakes of iron-folic acids during pregnancy and assess its impact on child’s birth weight. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 290 women with live birth in Kathmandu, Nepal. In this study, maternal intake of iron-folic acid during pregnancy was assessed by a questionnaire and birth weight of child was verified by the certificate issued by the Hospital. The correlation between these intakes and birth weight were evaluated and analyzed. Results: Prevalence of women taking iron-folic acid during pregnancy was 58.87%. This study found the positive association of the folic acid consumption of mothers on birth weight of their child, 79.65% of child with normal birth weight were the child whose mothers took iron-folic acid during the pregnancy whereas only 4.67% child were of normal birth weight whose mothers were not taking iron-folic acid during pregnancy. Folic acid intake during pregnancy was significantly associated with birth weight of child.

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