An exceptionally low percentage of Thai expectant mothers and medical personnel with folic acid knowledge and peri-conceptional consumption urges an urgent education program and/or food fortification.

It has been widely accepted that peri-conceptional consumption of folic acid (FA) can prevent many congenital anomalies, including more than one-half of all neural tube defects. In several developed countries, educational campaigns and/or food fortification with FA have been launched, resulting in lower incidences of some anomalies. In Thailand, congenital anomalies preventable by FA are still an important public health problem. However, there have been no recommendations on the use of FA supplementations from the health authorities. In order to achieve a goal of reducing the diseases' incidences, our initial effort is to assess knowledge and use of peri-conceptional FA. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 500 pregnant women and 500 child-bearing-age female medical personnel in the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from June 2003 through December 2003. Of the 383 pregnant women who completed the survey, 23.5% (90/383) knew that FA helped to prevent birth defects, 3.4% (13/383) knew that FA should be taken before pregnancy, and only 0.3% (1/383) reported taking FA before pregnancy. Among the 422 female medical personnel who completed the survey, 84.4% (356/422) knew that FA could prevent birth defects, whereas 40.0% (169/422) knew that FA should be taken prior to pregnancy. This study provided strong evidence that educational campaigns and/or food fortification are urgently needed.