Nutritional Advice El Mondo
Objectives:
Anemia is the most common hematologic disorder of children in the globe. There are fragmented and inconclusive study findings on under-five anemia in Ethiopia. Understanding the distribution of anemia is an important step for program planners and policymakers. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.
What are the risk factors of under-five anemia in Ethiopia?
Study design:
This review article included 16 cross-sectional studies, published from 2013 to 2018 with a total of 11,924 under-five children.
Under-five anemia is diagnosed as hemoglobin (Hb) level below 11.0 grams per deciliter and it is classified as mild (Hb = 10-10.9 g/dL), moderate (Hb = 7-9.9 g/dL) and severe anemia (Hb less than 7 g/dL).
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found pooled prevalence of under-five anemia in Ethiopia was 44.83%.
The investigators found in subgroup analysis, the higher pooled prevalence of under-five anemia was observed from children's age less than 2 years old [50.36%, 95% CI = 39.53 to 61.18], poor dietary diversity [OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.10 to 2.68], stunting [OR = 2.59, 95% CI = 2.04 to 3.28], food insecurity [OR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.25 to 6.61] and not dewormed [OR = 2.34, 95% CI = 1.77 to 3.09].
The investigators concluded that the magnitude of under-five anemia in Ethiopia is extremely high. Therefore, increased coverage of supplementation and fortification programs, periodic deworming, feeding diversified food, supplement food for those who are stunted and securing food in the households may all alleviate under-five anemia.
Original title:
Under-five anemia and its associated factors with dietary diversity, food security, stunted, and deworming in Ethiopia: systematic review and meta-analysis by Belachew A and Tewabe T
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7017616/
Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on anemia, food fortificatiion and deworming right here.