Nutritional Knowledge and Attitudes in Promoting Optimal Maternal Health Among Pregnant Women in Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State

Abstract

Nutritional status of a population largely depends on consumption of foods in relation to body’s needs and requirements. Pregnant women are documented to require extra nourishment to meet up the demands of developing foetus. Nutrition during pregnancy is inextricably related to nutritional status and it apparently depends on many factors, which influence outcome of pregnancy.The study focused on the nutritional knowledge and attitude of pregnant women in Yewa South Local Government of Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey research design, because it describes situation as it exists without manipulation. A Self developed, structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Purposive sampling technique was used for selecting ten clinics from where sample size of 250 pregnant women were randomly selected in Yewa Local Government Area of Ogun State for the study. Four hypotheses were tested using Chi-square statistical analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that most of the respondents had fair/little knowledge of nutritional needs during pregnancy, and had negative attitude towards adequate diet during pregnancy respectively. The result also shows that many pregnant women in the study area have inadequate knowledge of proper nutrition during pregnancy, that which could have negative consequences on their health and that of their babies. It was recommended that policies and programmes aimed at improving the overall nutritional status of women of reproductive age, including pregnant women should be implemented through specific interventions and community-based /religious-based nutrition programmes for pregnant women, particularly in rural communities.