Iron/foliate utilization and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care at public hospitals in Bench Sheko Zone, South West, Ethiopia

Background: Iron/foliate affects the lives of more than two billion people, accounting for over 30% of global population which is the highest in developing countries and about 18% of maternal mortality in low- and middleincome countries. Iron/foliate supplementation for pregnant mothers is the most cost-effective method of reducing iron deficiency, low birth weight, and neural tube defects among pregnant mothers and newborns in resource-limited countries like Ethiopia, so the purpose of this study has been to assess the iron/foliate utilization status of pregnant mothers and associated factors among pregnant mothers. Method: The study have used institution -based cross-sectional design with systematic random sampling, binary and multiple logistic regression to identify significantly associated variables, and a single population proportion formula to determine the sample size. Result: From the total of 318 participants only 32.1% of them utilized iron/foliate adequately. Marital status (AOR; 0.03 95%, CL (0.01-0.86), occupation (AOR; 11.12 95%, CL (1.95-69.05), gestation age when ANC visit started (AOR; 0.23 95%, CL (0.07-0.83), health education(AOR; 36.51 95%, CL (10.14-131.46), waiting time (AOR; 0.07 95%, CL (0.02-0.27) and knowledge (AOR; 0.17 95%, CL (0.05-0.57) were significantly associated variables with the outcome variable. Conclusion: According to this study, 32.1 % utilized iron/foliate adequately, whereas the remaining 67.9 % did not yet. Moreover, this study identified major associated variables with iron/foliate utilization status, including marital status, occupation, gestation age when ANC visit started, health education, average wait time, and knowledge of mothers on anemia/iron.