Nutritional Practices among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Health Facilities in Nnewi-South Local Government Area, Anambra State Nigeria

Pregnant woman’s nutritional insufficiency leads to increased risks like intra-uterine growth restriction, preterm birth, low birth weight, infant and maternal morbidity and death. This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out to investigate the nutritional practices among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) in health facilities in Nnewi-South Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to determine nutritional practices among pregnant women and to identify the cultural beliefs of the nutritional practices among pregnant women attending ANC in health facilities in Nnewi South LGA, Nigeria. A sample size of 207 pregnant women was recruited using total population sampling technique. Questionnaire titled Nutritional Practices among Pregnant Women was administered to the respondents to elicit information. The reliability of the instrument was established using the test-retest method and Cronbach’s alpha showed correlational score of 0.876. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the data analyses. The result showed that the overall score for practice of nutrition in pregnancy among the respondents was good 65.7%. There was a significant association between the pregnant women’s practice of nutrition and their Occupation (P-value 0.008) and that cultural beliefs of pregnant women had significant influence on their nutritional practice P value = 0.033. The study revealed that pregnant women despite their good practice of nutrition in pregnancy still have cultural belief that hinder them from eating certain food which in turn influence their nutritional practices. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that nurses should lay emphasis in discouraging negative cultural beliefs on nutrition in pregnancy during ANC and among the communities.