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for preventing postpartum infectious morbidity in thi s region.
A socio-demographic factor associated with t he occurrence
of postpartum anaemia i n t his study wa s ed uca t i o n. I n t he
r u r a l areas of Ghana the literacy rate i n women i s lower than
oc cu r s in the urban settings . In t he s e areas t hi s factor may
be an eve n more important de terminant. This finding also
reaffirms the already well recognised role that education
plays i n e nhancing the health status of mot he rs in t he
developing world.
If we c o nc lude from t h i s study t h a t one in every three o f
these "mor e f ortunate" women i n urban district of Kumasi who
had adequate antenatal care and hospital supervised delivery
a re anaemic after de livery one wonders what the s i t uati on is
i n the less fortunate regions in the co untry where pregnancy
care i s poor.
Cl e ar l y then the results presented here i nd i c at e that
postpartum anaemia is a probl em of the same maq n I tude as
pregnancy a naemia i n the s t udy population. In the early
puerperal period , that this anaemia poses a g r e at hazard to
these woman postpartum infections is a lso ev ident . One
therefore cannot over emphasize t he need to co ntrol postpartum
anaemia i n this community .