Untitled - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative - Memorial ...

176
East Africa . There , 95% of pregnant women attended antenatal
clinics a nd the mean attendance noted wa s 6 .4 visi ts [2 49 }.
I n t he United States nationa l l y, t he mean numbe r of a ntenatal
v i s i t s pe r pregnant woman was 12 vis i ts in 1987 and 76\: of
pregnant women started antenatal care i n t he i r first trimester
[ 4 ) . When compared wi t h these Ame rican women, the women in
t his stud y sample may be describe d a s having h a d poorer
a na tenatal c ar e .
Ana emia i n preg na ncy wa s observed in 38 .5% of t he wome n
who presented in labour an d whose pre-delivery ha emog lobin
levels we re measured . Tho ugh on ly "'8' of sUbjects had their
pre-delivery haemoglobin measured t he r e d id not appear to have
been biases as to whose blood samples was co l lected prior t o
de l i ve ry. This anaemia prevalence rate, t herefore, ca n be
co nsidered as close to t he true r ate for t he e nt i r e study
sample.
Nat i ona l reports for 1990 [24], indicate t hat over 70 % of
pregnant women registering for a ntenatal c are in the country
are anaemic at t he time of regi stration. I n t he As hanti reg ion
a n earl ier r ep or t in 19 87 also in dic ated that a h i gh
proportion (46%) of women s ee n i n t he i r first t rimester o f
pregnancy wer e an a emi c (29 ). I n light of the f igures r e p orted
in thi s study, and t he fact tha t a nt e natal coverage rates we r e
high i n the count r y, it woul d a ppear t hat antenatal care was
successfu l in p reventing anaemia in late pregnan cy in only