Table 3.
Participants’ reasons for not consuming iron and folic acid supplements (N = 330)
| Reasons | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Long walking distance to health facility | 27 | 8.2 |
| Transport costs | 40 | 12.1 |
| Safe previous pregnancies without iron and folic acid supplements | 56 | 17.0 |
| Advised by friends/relatives not to consume | 54 | 16.4 |
| Use of traditional medicine | 34 | 10.3 |
| Forgetfulness | 83 | 25.2 |
| Side effects | 89 | 27.0 |
| Inadequate supplya | 34 | 10.3 |
| Tablets were out of stock in facility | 47 | 14.2 |
| Dislike medication | 27 | 8.2 |
| Number of barriers; Mean (SD) | 1.49 (1.21) | |
Number of barriers score range: 0–10. A high total score indicates more barriers. aInadequate supply: cases where participants were supplied with pills not covering the period up to next visit. SD standard deviation