2013 Awareness Assessment

Figure 2. High school students answering the folic acid awareness test.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on the results of the pre-test survey analysis, 97.6% high school and 96.7% university students were aware that their health today may affect the health of their future babies.

Figure 3A shows the perception of students about folic acid with most of the high school and university students recognize it as a vitamin that can prevent birth defects, with 47.8% and 39.8%, and 33.8% and 31.2%, respectively. A higher percentage of university students do not know what folic acid is, and what it can do; compared to the high school students with 17.6% and 8.6% difference, respectively.

Moreover, most students are aware that folic acid is important in reducing birth defects during pregnancy with high school students higher compared with university students, 64.7% and 49.7% respectively.

There is a difference between the perception of the high school and university students on why it is necessary to take folic acid. As depicted in Figure 3B, around 32% of the high school students answered that folic acid should be taken before pregnancy; followed by answers of during pregnancy with 26.2% and during old age with 25.2%. Most of the university students answered folic acid should be taken during puberty with 33.8% followed by 29% who answered during pregnancy. A higher percentage of university students do not know when to take folic acid compared to the high school students, with 12% difference.

As shown in Figure 4A, most of the high school students know that folic acid is water soluble, so constant supplementation is needed. University students, on the other hand, answered that folic acid is not available in raw materials, with 41.7% and 36.9%, respectively. There are 20% more university students than high school students who do not know why folic acid supplementation is needed.

It can be inferred that most of the high school students, around 38%, know that 400 mcg of folic acid is needed by the body while 31% of them answered that they do not know. In the case of the university students, almost 70% of them do not know the amount of folic acid needed by the body (Figure 4B).

Almost 90% of the high school students and 56%of the university students indicated that they have not received information on folic acid and its importance in preventing birth defects prior to the intervention. However, more than 60% of both the study groups are willing to take folic acid as part of their regimen.

CONCLUSION

There is a difference in the level of awareness between the high school and university students. It appears that the high school students have a higher awareness about folic acid compared to the university students. Considering the significance of folic acid in the prevention of neural tube defects, awareness campaign must be done. Consequently, highlights of the results may be used to create more specific interventions addressing the gaps noticed in the analysis of the results.