Nutrition programmes within Community Health Centrers:Role in improving care for pregnant women

Abstract

In Mali, the incidence of iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy is high. To help reduce this anemia, a project aimed at strengthening the knowledge of health professionals in perinatal nutrition and sensitize pregnant women for adequate iron/folate supplementation was initiated in 14 health centers in Bamako. This study evaluated the activity of this project during the first six months of its implementation. The knowledge of the professionals was assessed; the practices of midwives and matrons were observed during the check ups and registers were used to collect retrospective (6 months) and prospective (6 months) data on the number of nutrition education sessions held; the number of participants in these sessions and the quantity of iron/folate tablets sold. Results showed that nutrition education sessions increased from 13% to 40% of all health education sessions and the number of women who participated in these sessions increased from 2,016 to 11,079. The monthly mean of iron/folate tablets sold in the pharmacies of the centers to pregnant women increased from 20,030±3,764 à 38,005±2,412 (P <0.05) and midwives and matrons included nutrition counseling in their daily practice. This nutrition programme was mainstreamed easily in the routine activities of health services. The programme increased the knowledge of the personnel and the quality of services provided to pregnant women.