Abstract

 Introduction: Congenital abnormalities have been found to be among the top 20 leading causes of burden of disease globally and a significant contributor to infant mortality with 11.3% of neonatal death caused by congenital anomalies which may result in long-term disabilities (Saus et al., 2017).

Base on the researcher observation of children suffering from malformations like limb defects cleft lips and other sensory deformations like hearing and visual it prompted her to carry out this research to assess pregnant women knowledge on the risk factors of congenital malformation at Baptist Hospital Mutengene from December 2020 to April 2021 with 160 pregnant women during this study time as participants.

The specific objectives were to assess the knowledge on congenital abnormality, to assess the knowledge on the risk factors, and to assess their knowledge on prevention It was a cross-sectional descriptive study.

Method: The sampling technique used was a convenient sampling technique, data were analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2010.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: From the analysis, it was observed that out of the 160 respondents recruited for this study, 90(56.25%) had adequate knowledge on Congenital Abnormalities as they gave the right definitions.

Base on the knowledge of the risk factors, respondents are knowledgeable as 100 (62.5%) of them know about the risk factors as they could identify that consumption of alcohol, cigarette smoking, and maternal infection can increase the risk of CA.  108 (65.5%) of the respondents had good knowledge of the preventive measure’s base on the responses that avoiding alcohol, smoking, taking folic acid.

Due to the fact that some participants have little or no knowledge, I recommend that the Public health minister should create public awareness on congenital abnormalities through the press and social media to increase their knowledge.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will be talking about the background, the problem statement, the general objectives, specific objectives, the research questions, and the significance of the study, the scope of the study, and the operational definition of terms used in the chapter.

1.1 Background Of The Study

According to Beck (2012) throughout most of human history, congenital anomalies were perceived as omens, portents or punishment of supernatural origin in many early cultures. For example, if a woman gives birth and the Anus is closed the land will suffer famine. Achondroplasia and other forms of dwarfism are portrayed as divinities in the act of ancient Egypt and Greece as well as Pre-Hispanic cultures of central and South America (Dasen, 2013).

Other explanation includes witchcraft, astrological configurations or emotional experience of the pregnant mother. In the 18thcentury, superstitions still dominated public conception of malformations but this topic was beginning to attract serious attention from physicians and scientists. Toward the end of the century, epigenesists finally achieved acceptance by the leading scientists opening the doors to the investigation of normal and abnormal development.

According to the Global Burden of Disease(GBD) (2010) report, congenital anomalies accounted for 510,400 deaths worldwide in 2010, 1% of all deaths (6% of neonatal and postnatal infant deaths) 2.5% of deaths 1-4 years.

Congenital anomalies ranked 14th among the causes of death (Boyleetal., 2018); an estimate of 7.9million children are born with a serious birth defect; many infants die worldwide within 4 weeks of birth and some die during delivery due to complications associated with birth defects. The prevalence rate is more severe in middle- and low-income countries wherein 94% of serious birth defects and 95% of deaths of these children occur (Bello et al., 2013).

Congenital anomalies have also been found to be among the top 20 leading causes of burden of disease globally and a significant contributor to infant mortality with 11.3% of neonatal death caused by congenital anomalies which may result in long-term disabilities (Sauset al., 2017).

In Africa and the Middle East, the prevalence ranged between 20 and 30/1000 live births in Uganda, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Kenya. In Egypt, the prevalence was 65.3/1000 live births (Ali et al., 2019) and in South Africa, it was 1.49%.

Another study carried out in Nigeria teaching hospital showed that, out of 1057 newborns, 67 had congenital anomalies giving a percentage of 6.3% (Akinlabi E. Ajao and Ikeola A. Adeoye 2019). Congenital malformations are common in Cameroon.

According to research carried out in Yaounde, the prevalence was 9 per 1000 births. The most common types of malformations were (per 1.000 births) polydactyly 2.1; clubfeet 1.1, Neural tube defects 1.4; Hydrocephalus 1.1; oro-facial clefts 0.9; and abdominal parietal defects 0.7. (Charlotte .et al.,  2015).

Also, another research carried out in General Hospital Douala, 6048 neonates were examined 99 of whom had a malformation giving a prevalence of 1.64% and among them, musculoskeletal defects were the most common (36.4%) followed by digestive tract defect (22.2%) neural tube defect (11.1%) and polymalformation among the malformed babies 33% died within the first 48 hours (Robinson Enow Mbu, et al 2016) Children who survive suffer from long term disabilities and pose a negative impact on the economic and social status on the family.

A study carried out at the Regional Hospital Buea South West Region of Cameroon, by Enoworock (2016) reported 5 rare cases of malformation were found involving all the systems and another study carried out in the same hospital by Nkoke et al. (2017) shows a prevalence of congenital heart defect to be 2.1% where tetralogy of Fallot was 20%, Atrial septic defect 20% and the ventricular septal defect was 60%.

This research was carried out to assess pregnant women’s knowledge on the risk factors and prevention of congenital malformation at Baptist Hospital Mutengene (BHM)from October 2020 to February 2021with 50pregnant women during this study time as participants.

1.2. Problem Statement

Base on the World Health Organization (WHO) reports, the vast majority of congenital anomalies (94%) occur in low- and middle-income countries. From observation and the above statistics, the rate of these defects is increasing and the psychological and social-economic burden on the parent, family, and society is greatly exceeding with the limited technology in correcting most of these defects in our setting.

The researcher lost her cousin who died after being operated of hydrocephalus, have seen children with malformation like cleft palate/ lip, limb defects and other sensory deformations like hearing and visual impairment in the community and in Blind, deaf and dumb school at Banso Baptist Hospital who are a liability to their families and society and many women who have lost their babies because of congenital malformations and it makes them depressed and also spends a lot of money in treatment when they give birth to malformed children.

All these bring up the question of whether the pregnant women are aware of these defects, their risk factors, and the measures of prevention which is of great importance for them as it will limit fetal mortality and disabilities and has prompted the researcher to carry out this study which is aimed at assessing the pregnant women knowledge on the congenital abnormalities and its risk factors in Baptist Hospital Mutengene.

1.3 OBJECTIVES

1.3.1 General Objective

To Assessing pregnant women knowledge on the risk factors of congenital abnormalities in Baptist Hospital Mutengene

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

1. To assess pregnant women knowledge of congenital abnormalities (CAs)
2. To determine their level of knowledge on the risk factors of congenital abnormalities
3. To evaluate their level of knowledge on the prevention of congenital abnormalities

1.4. Research Questions

1. Do pregnant women have any knowledge of congenital abnormalities?
2. Are pregnant women aware of the risk factors of congenital abnormalities?
3. What are the measures put in place by pregnant women to prevent these birth defects?