Prevalence of Anemia and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care Clinics in Garowe, Puntland, Somalia, 2024: A Cross-Sectional Study Design

Background: Pregnancy-related anaemia, characterized by a decrease in haemoglobin concentration to levels below 11 g/dL in pregnant women, is one of the most significant public health challenges in developing countries, including Somalia. This condition affects maternal health and has serious consequences for the child. Objective: To assess the prevalence of anaemia and its associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinics in Garowe, Puntland, Somalia. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 391 pregnant women attending health facilities in Garowe from July 1 to October 25, 2024, were systematically selected and included in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and exported into SPSS version 22 for analysis. Both bivariate (cut-off < 0.25) and multivariate (cut-off < 0.05) analyses were used to assess the strength of associations between dependent and independent variables. Result: The overall prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women was 250 (63.9%). Of these, 122 (31.2%) had mild anaemia, 119 (30.4%) had moderate anaemia, and a small proportion, 9 (2.3%), suffered from severe anaemia. Factors like education level [(AOR=3.321, 95% CI (1.553,7.102)], not receiving iron supplementation [(AOR=5.216, 95% CI (2.565, 10.606)], taking tea immediately after meal anemic [(AOR=2.824, 95% CI (1.684,4735)], inadequate dietary diversity [AOR=1.935, 95% CI (1.146,3.267)] were significantly associated with anaemia. The odds of developing anaemia were two times higher among multigravida [(AOR=2.235: 95% CI (1.160,4.306)] when compared to primigravida pregnant women. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women attending health facilities in Garowe was high. 63.9% of pregnant women had a haemoglobin level of less than 11 g/dL. This prevalence is higher than the prevalence in the national survey and it is a public health problem according to the WHO. Factors such as education level, gravidity, iron supplementation, dietary diversity score, and drinking tea immediately after meals were significantly associated with anaemia in pregnant women