WHY PLANNED PREGNANCY IS ALWAYS BETTER
A planned pregnancy is always better
Dr Esther Wanjohi, a reproductive health specialist, believes that every woman (of child-bearing age) should ask themselves this question. By this, she means, every woman who hopes to be a mother ought to determine whether the pregnancy will be intentional or otherwise.
But planning for a pregnancy does not start and end with a conscious decision to conceive. Dr Wanjohi says: "It starts with understanding what pregnancy is and what will be required of you. It requires making sure that your body is healthy enough to carry a pregnancy."
A 2016 survey (which included tests) conducted among pregnant women in Nairobi found most of the respondents with micro-nutrient deficiency.
The lead researcher, Dr Echoka Elizabeth, of Kenya Medical Research Institute, attributed these findings to the fact that majority of these women get pregnant by accident.
"Some of the women find out they are pregnant four months after conceiving," she says. "They are not aware of what is happening in their bodies until the evidence is too conspicuous."
The danger with 'accidental pregnancies', says Dr Stephen Mutiso, a gynaecologist at Kenyatta National Hospital, is that if the woman's body lacks these essential micro-nutrients it exacerbates the chances of the baby suffering from congenital illnesses.
The team found that 19 per cent of the women had anaemia, characterised by low haemoglobin levels while approximately 36.1 per cent had iron deficiency. Overall, 11.7 per cent had marginal deficiencies.
"We emphasise on proper nutrition for the baby in its first 1,000 days of existence. Damages that occur during this time - if nutrition is not being followed well - are irreversible. For instance, lack of folic acid at certain points during pregnancy causes neural tube defects like spina bifida, a lifelong condition," says Gladys Mugambi, head of nutrition at the Ministry of Health.
According to Dr Mutiso, it is advisable that women planning to conceive consume micro-nutrient supplements with iron and folic as these elements play important roles during the early days of foetal formation and development.
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