Non-adherence to iron and folic acid supplementation among pregnant women in bunyala sub-county, western Kenya

Due to high prevalence of anemia, WHO recommends a daily oral dose of 60 mg of iron and 400ug folic acid supplementation for 6 months to prevent maternal anemia and neonatal neural tube defects. Several countries in sub-Saharan African have implemented the recommendations, however few studies have assessed the accessibility and adherence among pregnant women. A cross sectional study was conducted among 305 women attending ANC services at 8 health facilities in Bunyala, sub-county in western Kenya. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the study participants and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics was used for data analyses. The access to IFAS by pregnant women was 92.8% (283). However, adherence of daily oral dose within a month was 47.8% (146). The non-adherence group were irregular takers, 40.7% (124) and those who were not taking at all were 11.5% (35%). Further assesement showed that there were 12.5% (38) reported past miscarriages, abortions and still births as maternal outcomes. The findings of the study show that despite the good accessibility, there is low adherence to IFAS. Consequently, there is a need to promote health education during the ANC visits and strengthen the role of community health volunteers on the improvement of the adherence.