Assessment of Dietary Practice and Anthropometric Status of Pregnant Women in Aleta Chuko Woreda Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s™ Region /SNNPR/, Ethiopia: Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Good maternal nutrition is important for the health and reproductive performance of women and the health, survival, and development of their children. Malnutrition in women, including pregnant women, is not conspicuous and remains, to a large extent, uncounted and unreported; thus, insufficient attention has been given to the extent, causes, and consequences of malnutrition in women. As a result, inadequate resources and efforts have been allocated to improving women's nutrition compared with other nutritional and public health actions. The limited available data and the few experiences with programs that do exist come mostly from small-scale efforts to improve nutrition during pregnancy, often through nutritional supplementation to enhance fetal growth and birth weight. This study was implemented to assess the dietary practice and anthropometric status of pregnant women in Aleta Cuko Woreda, SNNPR, and Ethiopia. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of dietary practice and anthropometric status among pregnant women in Aleta Chuko woreda, SNNPR Ethiopia. Methods: A health center-based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted between May 2015 and June 2015 among pregnant women in Aleta Chuko woreda, SNNPR Ethiopia. Data was entered and analyzed through using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software for windows version 16.0. Results: The prevalence of MUAC measurement <19 cm 2.1%, 19 cm-23 cm were 69%, and ≥23 cm 28.1%. About 76.7% of Iron/float supplementation, 57.6% of advice about dietary practice during ANC, and 92.4% of sable diet in the study area were Enset. Conclusions: Individual counseling with any action points and reinforcement can bring about improvement in nutritional status during pregnancy.