iron requirements for pregnant women cannot be met from
dietary sources alone27. Consequently, daily supplements of
iron and folic acid has been universally recommended28.
Under Uganda’s current regime of implementing anaemiareduction
interventions through healthcare facilities, the low
ANC attendance found in this study implies that access to and
use of IFA supplements is low among pregnant women,
consistent with the 2006 UDHS that found only 0.7% of
pregnant women in Uganda had taken the recommended
minimum IFA. The present study found 13.2% IFA use rate,
which was considerably lower than the overall ANC
attendance (22.5% by third trimester). This implies other
barriers to IFA intake, even within increased ANC
attendance.