Assessment of women’s knowledge and perceptions on anaemia- an intervention with nutrition education

Background: Anemia and iron deficiency adversely affect women of reproductive age and young children in middle and low-income countries. It is considered a major health problem worldwide. In India, the prevalence of anemia is very high, about 53% of women are suffering from anemia. The Government of India and other research institutes have been promoting nutrition education to increase knowledge and awareness of dietary habits and intake, health and nutritional status among women. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of nutrition education on iron deficiency anemia among women of reproductive age.
Methods: An experimental (pre-posttest) research design was selected for the study. The respondents were categorized into experimental groups and control groups. A total of 300 women were selected from five villages. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data and the data was analyzed using SPSS.
Results: The results revealed that the majority of the respondents were within the age group of 15–26 years, had a high school education, and had mild anemia. The study found that the nutritional education intervention had a significant increase in the scores of knowledge and perception levels of the respondents in the experimental group.