Tips for Preventing Anemia in Pregnant Women During a Pandemic
Ladies, in the previous article, we discussed all about anemia in pregnant women in Indonesia, starting from the causes, dangers, and signs. Therefore, in this article, we will discuss how to prevent anemia in pregnant women. Prevention of anemia in pregnant women is important so that cases such as miscarriage, bleeding, and the incidence of premature birth, low birth weight, or stillbirth do not occur.
Prevention of anemia in pregnant women is important because according to the 2018 Basic Health Research, one in two pregnant women in Indonesia is anemic. Pregnant women are said to be anemic if their Hb content is below 11 g/dl. So Ladies, do you know what your hemoglobin level is? If you haven't, you can try checking your blood level to make sure you don't get anemia. Other things that we can do to prevent anemia in pregnant women are as follows :
- Increase consumption of foods rich in iron and protein, such as liver, eggs, poultry, meat, fish, nuts, green vegetables, and red or yellow fruits
- Eat a variety of balanced nutritious foods with the addition of 1 (one) portion of food a day
- Take blood-boosting tablets of at least 90 (ninety) tablets during pregnancy
- Use footwear to prevent hookworm infection
- For malaria-endemic areas, use mosquito nets on beds as an effort to prevent malaria
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and running water
Currently, we are forced to live with Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19). COVID-19 has been declared a world pandemic by WHO (WHO, 2020). The spread of this virus has hit all provinces and the rapid addition of victims has become the focus of attention for all levels of society and the Indonesian government.
The existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has also disrupted efforts to reduce anemia cases in pregnant women carried out by the government through nutritional services in the form of giving blood boosting tablets. Although the program for giving blood tablets continues to be carried out with various adjustments, there are several things that pregnant women need to pay attention to during the COVID-19 pandemic :
- Consumption of balanced nutritious food (my plate)
- The habit of always washing hands with soap and running water
- Do a light physical activity that suitable for pregnant women
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
- Stay at home, and if you have to leave your house, pay attention to the principles of infection prevention
- Use a mask when leaving the house
- If you cough and sneeze, cover your mouth and nose on the crook of elbows or a tissue
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and running water
- Avoid the crowd
Hopefully, through this article, future mothers-to-be can be more aware of the possibility of anemia and its symptoms. It would be much better if from now on, we can start making efforts to prevent anemia.
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Sources :
Kementerian Kesehatan RI. (2020). Pedoman Pemberian Tablet Tambah Darah (TTD) Bagi Ibu Hamil Pada Masa Pandemi Covid-19. Jakarta: Kementerian Kesehatan RI.