The development of anaemia in the present study was
found to be significantly associated with educational status
and socio-economic status. Similar findings have been
reported elsewhere. The level of anaemia ranged from low
to moderate with no individual cases of severe anaemia
detected. The absence of severe anaemia or its existence as
low incidence of severe anaemia in expectant women has
been reported in related studies [31, 32]. Globally, over 80%
of pregnant women present with moderate or severe public
health problem. Severe pregnancy related anaemia is
commonly associated with parasitic infections (malaria,
intestinal worms) during pregnancy. It is suggested that the
low incidence of severe anaemia in the study subjects could
be an indication of positive outcome of the ongoing
infectious disease intervention strategies undertaken by
county public health department in the study area. An
aggressive public health awareness campaign on the
importance of proper sanitation and the need to seek
appropriate treatment of parasitic infections in pregnancy
could explain the low prevalence of anaemia subjects with
tertiary and university education. It is expected that the
element of schooling makes this category of subjects more
receptive to new ideas and contents of public health
campaigns and hence more likely to practice positive
healthy living and treatment seeking behaviour. In addition,
educated pregnant women categorised in the middle socioeconomic
class are likely be employed and can afford to
enrol for ante-natal care, eat nourishing food and or prevent
possible parasitic infections. The opposite is true for the
un-educated poor, low socio-economic status living in
chronic poverty [33, 34, 35].