Background: Malaria is an important public health concern among pregnant women, approximately 32 million of them are at risk annually. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria represents annually more than 10.000 maternal deaths and 200.000 neonatal deaths too. Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) is used to reduce disease in pregnancy and their effects on the newborn. Today the WHO recommends that at least three doses of IPT should be taken by pregnant women during Antenatal Care Visit (ANC), this should be taken every month from the sixteenth week of pregnancy till parturition. This study aimed to assess the effect of IPT on the birth weight of the babies of mothers delivering in Dschang District Hospital. Methodology:The study was conducted at the maternity unit of Dschang District Hospital located in Dschang (west region of Cameroon). In order to achieve this, a total of 380 participants, constituted essentially of women coming for delivery in the hospital were necessary. Data on the number of ANC, total dose of IPT taken have been taken from their health books. Moreover, information on socio demographic characteristics and obstetrics history of each participant were also recorded through an interview. Furthermore, blood was collected from the maternal side of placenta into EDTA tubes for assessment of maternal anemia. After all these, birth outcomes were then recorded. Results:At the end of this study we found that 98.7% of participant had made at least one ANC while 65% of them had taken at least three doses of IPT. The uptakes of IPT vary according to the number of ANC (P < 0.05). Furthermore, it appeared that 13.9% of new born had low birth weight, although the prevalence of malaria during pregnancy was (25.3%) and maternal anemia (24.5%) were important. majority of pregnant women were those aged between 24-34 years-old (59.2%) and having secondary level of education (58.8%). Conclusion:Although the majority of women took more than 3 doses of IPT, after delivery the prevalence of anemia and Low birth weight was 24 and 13 percent. Otherwise, studies are needed to assess the real efficacy of IPT in preventing malaria during pregnancy and the causes of maternal anemia.
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