Time of folic acid initiation among pregnant women attending antenatal care at public health center in wolkite, southern, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Folic acid is a B complex vitamin that essential to a healthy pregnancy. It is very important for a pregnant woman to protect against neural tube Defect. WHO recommended that a pregnant women should have start taking folic acid 0.4 mg daily before conception and up to 12 week of gestational age. Objective: To identify the time of folic acid initiation among pregnant women attending Antenatal care (ANC) at a public health center in wolkite Ethiopia Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study design will be used. a simple random sampling used to select 193 respondents. The data was collected by interview using a structured questionnaire. Result: in this study, the prevalence of pregnant women tooking folic acid at periconcptional and early pregnancy in wolkite, Ethiopia is 2.95%. It is evidents that pregnant women Attending ANC at wolkite public health center 68.9% we're started folic acid intake In late pregnancy Conclusion: folic acid initiation the most important nutrients to forestall serious birth defect , especially neural tube defect. Recommendation: wolkite city administration and health bureau should have to educate mother's on importance and time to initiation folic acid