WiRED International Releases Module on Healthy Practices during Pregnancy

BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN

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very pregnancy should result in a healthy baby. The best way to help ensure this is for a woman to stay healthy before and during pregnancy.

 

WiRED International now offers a Healthy Practices during Pregnancy module as part of the organization’s Mother and Child Health Series. This new module provides a general introduction to pregnancy for grassroots audiences, high school students and community health workers in low-resource regions.

 

Since half of all pregnancies aren’t planned, it is important for women of child-bearing age to take steps to stay healthy before they become pregnant. Preventive steps before pregnancy include taking folic acid, not drinking alcohol, not smoking, controlling any chronic conditions and caring for teeth and gums.

 

Staying healthy during pregnancy means getting regular physical exercise and eating sensible balanced meals. WiRED’s module discusses food safety, the importance of vitamins and minerals, and drinking plenty of water and fluids. The course also covers foods to avoid during pregnancy such as deli meats or certain kinds of seafood.

 


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Getting regular prenatal checkups during all stages of pregnancy is the key to a healthy mother and baby. A health care provider will check the woman’s height, weight and blood pressure; perform tests on urine and blood; measure and record the baby’s growth and progress; listen to the baby’s heartbeat after the 12th week of pregnancy; and discuss concerns and complications such as gestational diabetes.

 

WiRED believes that making its free pregnancy module available to underserved people will enable them to improve their health and that of their communities.

 

 

 

 

Quiz Questions from WiRED’s Healthy Practices during Pregnancy module

 

1. Women who take ________ lower their child’s risk of certain birth defects of the brain and spine, including spina bifida.

 a. Amino acid
 b. Folic acid
 c. Vitamin D
 d. Calcium

2. A full-term baby is born at what week of pregnancy?

 a. 42
 b. 38
 c. 36
 d. 40

3. Sudden swelling of the hands or feet or rapid weight gain in pregnant women may be signs of ________?

 a. Gestational diabetes
 b. Melasma
 c. Preeclampsia
 d. Heat stroke

4. Most women need ________ calories a day more during the last six months of pregnancy than they do before pregnancy.

 a. 300
 b. 100
 b. 400
 b. 200

 

 

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