Abstract:
Prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) in Sri Lanka is 22 % and in the Ampara district it is 15.8%. It is believed the Sainthamaruthu Medical Officer of Health (MOH) division which is a suburban area in the Ampara district has improved maternal health facilities and this should have different statistics. In this descriptive research study, all the pregnant women who delivered babies in 2015 in Sainthamaruthu MOH area were studied for the selected maternal factors and this statistics were comparedfor development trend with2009. The associated maternal factors related to LBW were also studied.
The study results revealed that theprevalence of LBW was 12.65% which is significantly less than the district statistics (p = 0.032). The mean birth weight was 2997.47 g. The initial weight of the pregnant mothers was significantly associated with LBW (p = 0.0073). The relative risk of delivering LBW babies in 2015 compare to that of 2009 was between 0.866 to 1.969 (OR=1.3059, 95% CI: 0.866, 1.969). Therefore no improvement has occurred which is not a good contribution to the millennium development goal and therefore it is recommended to identify the high risk mothers early during their pregnancy time to provide special prenatal care
