IMPACT OF PHARMACISTS’ HEALTH EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION ON ANEMIA IN PREGNANCY IN RURAL SETTINGS IN KANO, NIGERIA

The worsening trend of anemia in pregnancy continues to be a cause for concern in many developing countries. There is a need for synergy involving all health care professionals in order to reverse this alarming trend. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of pharmacists initiated health education intervention on anemia in pregnancy in the rural setting, in Kano, Nigeria. A total of 280 pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic, 140 each from the test and control sites, were recruited by a systematic sampling technique after signing a written informed consent form. A pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to elicit baseline demographic and obstetric information. Baseline Packed Cell Volume (PCV) was done for each group, using the capillary technique. Health education intervention was administered to the test group only. Baseline and Post-intervention PCV were compared after 8 weeks using Chi-square statistics. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. The baseline prevalence of anemia was quite high, 31.4% and 39.3% for test and control groups respectively. There was a significant overall decrease in anemia prevalence among pregnant women in the test group from 31.4% to 15.2% compared with 39.3% to 31.4% in the control (p < 0.05). Primi gravidae and grand multiparous clients were less likely to be anaemic than the multiparous clients (χ2 = 25.4, p = 0.003, α = 0.05 and χ2 = 35.7, p = 0.0004, α = 0.05 respectively). Conclusively pharmacist-initiated educational intervention significantly reduced the prevalence of anemia among rural pregnant women.