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The non-infectiolIs morbid!ties :
Pos t pa r t um anaemia:
' 02
Postpartum anaemia was the most prevalent morbidity found
in the sUbjects i n thl0 study, occurring at the rate of one in
every three women who were followed up. Indeed had the WHO
criteria of 12.0 gjdl for the non-pregnant women been used i n
classifying s Ubjects then 62.8\ o f the.se women wou l d ha ve been
identified as anaemic po stpartum. In t his study howev er th..
level for the pregnant women of 11. Og/dl was used eecousc t he
puerper ium is c ons i d e r e d more as a physiolog ical part of t he
child beari.ng process.
Anaemia pri or t o delivery was the s in gle no s t important
determinant of postpartum an aemia in this study s aa pj e s 7)\ o f
SUbjects who had postpartum anaemia, whose pre-deli very
ha emog lobin levels were known, had be en anaemic prior to
delivery. This finding justifies the increased attention paid
to prevention of a naem ia i n pregnancy and also r eaffirms the
existing adage of prima r y prevention.
Despite the ve r y satisfactory antenatal c a r e co vera ge
noted i n the s t udy sample and also recorded f or Kumasi, the
rates of pre-delivery a naemia a nd thus of postpartum a neemk a
were found t o be very high . If we consider that routi ne iron
and folate s upp lementation and mala r i a prophylaxis are major
components of antenatal care in the c ou nt r y , then these stUdy