ABSTRACT

Nutrition during pregnancy play a vital role in the wellbeing of the pregnant women and their unborn child and it influence on their health during childhood and adulthood. The problem of malnutrition is the major causes of maternal mortality and it is a major determinant of a successful pregnancy and a healthy well-nourished baby. The study assessed nutrition knowledge and dietary pattern among pregnant women in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia state. The study employed the cross sectional survey design. The population was comprised of pregnant women attending antenatal in health centre in Umuahia, the sample was 191 pregnant women. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The dietary pattern of the pregnant women were assessed using the food frequency questionnaire, while the nutritional knowledge were assessed using the nutritional knowledge questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as continuous variables using frequency distribution, proportions, percentages, and measures of central tendency were used to analyse data. The result on socio-economic characteristics revealed that 46.1% attended secondary school, 24.1% were civil servants, 64.9% were married, 49.2% were between the ages of 30-34 years, 71.2% were Christians and 49.2% had 1-2 children. In this study only 64.4% of the pregnant women had good dietary practice indicating that the overall dietary practice of the pregnant women in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State is optimal and the rest 35.6% of the pregnant women reported poor dietary practices. Concerning dietary knowledge, 66.5% of the pregnant women had good dietary knowledge while 15.2% had poor dietary knowledge. In conclusion, maternal dietary practices during pregnancy play an important role in determining the long-term health and nutritional status of both the mother and her growing foetus. Poor dietary practices during pregnancy may result in increased rates of stillbirths, premature birth, and low birth weight, maternal and prenatal death. The study recommends that it is necessary to improve pregnant women knowledge on nutrition through nutrition education and integrating key nutrition messages in already existing strategy should be strengthened.