Abstract

KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE ON ANEMIA AMONG THE WOMEN ATTENDING A GOVERNMENT TERTIARY LEVEL HOSPITAL AT COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH

Abu Ansar Md. Rizwan*, Foqrul Hasan, Mohammad Shamsul Huda, Nasim Talukder, Rafi Abul Hasnath Siddique, Afsana Anwar and Omar Ali

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Abstract

Anemia is considered one of the major public health catastrophes globally especially in the developing countries. Most of the women suffer from anemia in a particular period of their life. Though many interventions have been undertaken to mitigate the problem but still many women suffer from anemia due to lack of enough knowledge and positive attitude towards prevention of anemia. Thus, this study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and attitude on anemia among the women attending a government tertiary level hospital. For the study purpose Cox’s Bazar district of the southern region in Bangladesh was selected purposively. A descriptive type of cross-sectional study was conducted with 384 women aged 18 to 45 years who attended a selected hospital in Cox’s Bazar district for seeking any kind of treatment. It was found that among the respondents, only 11.0% respondents’ level of knowledge on anemia was excellent and 21.0% respondents’ level of knowledge was good whereas half (50%) of the respondents’ level of attitude was positive towards anemia. There is strong and significant relationship of knowledge and attitude on anemia with the socio-demographic status and level of education of the respondents. The study findings recommend the need of intensive nutrition and health education programme to disseminate appropriate knowledge on anemia among the women of reproductive age.

Keywords: Knowledge, attitude, anemia, women, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.