Knowledge, attitudes and practices on nutrition among pregnant and lactating women in Mopani District of Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Background: All human beings need a balanced amount of nutrients for proper functioning of the body system as well as the ideal functioning of a vital centre (brain). Maternal under-nutrition is a leading cause of maternal mortality. Furthermore, health statuses and habits of mother’s influence health statuses of newborns as well as healthy habits and mortality of children. Adequate nutrition knowledge at this stage will play a bigger role in their daily practices. However, no study has explored the nutritional knowledge, attitudes and nutrition-related practices among pregnant and lactating women in Mopani District.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess and describe knowledge, attitudes and practices on nutrition among pregnant and lactating women in Mopani District.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the ten sampled local clinics in Mopani District of Limpopo province in South Africa. A selfadministered questionnaire was given out to 306 pregnant and lactating women who visited ten sampled clinics for antenatal and postnatal care of which 306 were retrieved and used, representing a response rate of 100%. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25.0 was used for data entry, and descriptive statistics tests were conducted for the items which were summarized by frequencies and percentages.

Results: As many as 30.7% of pregnant women and 17.9% of lactating women reported to have never received any nutritional advice from the healthcare professionals. While the majority of the respondents 50.2% reported that their sources of information were elderly people, friends or community members. As many as 46.3% of the respondents reported to had experienced craving for unusual substances. Eating soil during pregnancy were encouraged by elderly women of the family, since eating soil during pregnancy is often believed culturally to have an effect of providing energy to a pregnant woman.

Conclusion: The study concluded that pregnant and lactating women had some sort of lack knowledge, negative attitudes towards nutrition and suboptimal nutritional practices.