Knowledge and Perception of Rhesus Incompatibility Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi.

This work was carried out to determine the knowledge and perceived effects of Rhesus incompatibility among pregnant Women attending antenatal clinic at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. The objectives are to determine the knowledge of Rhesus incompatibility among pregnant women attending Antenatal at Nnamdi Azikiwe University University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, ascertain the knowledge of effect on pregnancy and to determine the precautionary measures they take to prevent rhesus incompatibility. Descriptive design was adopted and a sample size of l10 was use for this study. A research questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Analysis was done using frequency and percentage and results were represented in tables. The results of the study revealed that greater percentage of the respondent 96(87.3%) reported that they have heard about Rhesus incompatibility, 86(43.9%) mothers reported that they knew the various effects of Rhesus incompatibility. (76.6 %6) of the respondent reported knowing one's blood group as one of the precautionary measures to avoidrhesus disease. In conclusion, the study was able to reveal that mother's knowledge and perception of rhesus incompatibility is still poor compared to the negative effect on pregnancy outcomes. As lack of information and health education on the subject matter is one of the causes of rhesus incompatibility in pregnancy. Mothers were not able to determine the precautionary measures to be taken to avoid the Rhesus incompatibility. Based on the findings, recommendations were made which include: that the ABO group and RhD factor are determined and a search for irregular antibodies is carried out in all pregnant women, independently of their RhD status, within the first trimester of pregnancy and also that all pregnant women should be notified of their RhD status because of the possible need for prophylaxis with anti-D Ig.