Knowledge of Adolescent Girls on Pregnancy and Antenatal care

Background : Adolescence is particularly a transition period of human development which has profound influence on a person’s future. In Bangladesh adolescents usually gather their knowledge about reproductive health from their family and surroundings and therefore their knowledge remains incorrect and insufficient. Government increases the provision of schooling for girls but there is no provision of sex education. Objective : To assess the knowledge of adolescent girls about pregnancy and antenatal care. Methods : A cross sectional study was done during the period of January ’15 to June ’15 among 143 students of class 1X and X of 2 rural private schools of Rupganj and Narayanganj. Simple random sampling method was applied for enrolling the study population and data was collected by interview method using pretested questionnaire. Finally, data was analyzed by SPSS version 17. Result : Most of the respondents had average knowledge about pregnancy and antenatal care. Nearly three-forth (61.5%) of the respondents had incorrect knowledge about pregnancy period and majority (76.3%) do not know about the correct mother’s organ for developing baby during pregnancy. Maximum respondents (95%) had good knowledge about extra care of a pregnant mother. Although 74.8% mentioned about TT vaccination of a pregnant mother but majority (65%) did not know detail about the vaccines’ dose and schedule. Statistically significant difference found in knowledge on pregnancy and antenatal care among married and unmarried girls. (P=<0.05) Conclusion : Knowledge of adolescent girls about pregnancy and ANC was average in our rural area. Northern International Medical College Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 July 2019, Page 423-426